Baba Yaga's Curse
by Quontir
Summary: Now with Recap goodness. Ranma, Hotaru and Beryl fight Terminators, Meet up with SG-1, and find remnants of the Moon Kingdom. But, will they ever meet up with Baba Yaga and end the curse? Mostly dead everything I add feels like it makes this story bad
1. Prologue – What has already happened

Baba Yaga's Curse: Friction with the machine

Recap:

A long time ago in a universe far far away Ranma Saotome lived his regular life and did many things, but one day Ryouga came to him with a special blessing from a powerful witch named Baba Yaga.

That blessing first sent Ranma and Ryouga to world where Queen Serenity was the ruler of an evil Moon Empire and an Alternate Version of Ranma had been born female and was the Senshi of the Sun. It turned out that Ranma herself was able to use the solar henshin rod and when she did so she was given the entire set of the previous Guardian of the Sun, including her death at the hands of Queen Serenity and the inner senshi.

Soon after that Ranma and Ryouga joined forces with that universes version of Beryl and ended up killing Serenity and destroying the evil Moon Empire.

The two boys were briefly separated with Ryouga taken in by Count Dooku and training in the dark side while Ranma briefly visited an alternate version of Nerima and faced down a predator before he ended up freeing Ryouga from Dooku, then later they end up fighting with the Jedi against Darth Vader and Palpatine. Ending their time in that world with Palpatine's death.

On another world they became entwined with the lives of the Sailor Senshi once again. However the two ended up on somewhat different sides in the conflict. Ryouga was more than willing to work with and help the Senshi, but Ranma's memories of the Moon Empire would not allow her to trust those people she had been fighting against.

Ranma thus went off and in doing so he saved Hotaru from Kaolinite and then from the outer Senshi. The two ended up joining with that universe's version of Beryl as well and destroying Mistress Nine. But, in this world Nine was not the only servant of Paharoah 90. It turned out that yet another version of Ranma Saotome was living in this universe and had become a member of the Death Busters. It ended in a huge conflict with all parties involved and at the end of that a somewhat deranged Pluto dragged Sailor Sol off to be killed.

Saturn and Beryl, now Sailor Earth came and were able to rescue Sol from Pluto, but after that Baba Yaga came and tried to claim the Time Gates for herself. The Three couldn't allow that and so they ended up destroying the gates or did they?

Prologue – What has already happened.

Ranma woke up. He was male and lying on a bed, he could feel felt warmth on him and noticed that Beryl and Hotaru were also in bed with him and they were holding him close. In fact, as he looked closer he realized that they all were tangled together in a shabby medical bed mostly naked and in their civilian identities. He thought he could hear sounds like explosions and gunfire in the distance and so he gathered his courage. With a deep blush on his face he quickly, but carefully untangled from his friends so as not to wake them.

As he got out of the bed, the sounds of gunfire seemed to be coming closer. He found the light switch and a bare white bulb came on. There were five other beds in the room, but they all looked like they would fall apart at a touch. He approached what looked like a hastily erected metal door and then it burst open and a rugged-looking elderly lady came into the room. Her white hair was streaming behind her and she was holding an automatic weapon in her hands. She slammed the door behind her and said, "Good, you're up. The med team said it was just exhaustion."

The gun fire was coming closer and the lady said, "Alright, there is a hidden door in the north east corner of the room."

Ranma stared at her and she said, "Look, I'm Commander Sarah Conner and we don't have any time for chit chat. Get it in gear! Wake your wives and hurry it up! Skynet has located us!"

Ranma stammered and he used his English skills to say, "Uhm, you're confused–they aren't my wives."

"That doesn't matter. Just wake them and hurry it up! The terminators from Skynet are here and I have ordered a full retreat to Tango Base. Now come on hurry it up or you'll be dead! They could be here in this room at any moment!"

Ranma decided to listen to the lady and quickly roused his friends as the gunfire came closer and closer. They were both getting out of bed and moving towards the corner of the room when the sounds of a firefight came from outside the metal door and then there was a small explosion.

The explosion sent them all to the floor. He looked up from the floor and saw that the door had been blown down and was now on top of Commander Conner. Standing in archway was a metal man holding a black automatic weapon. Without hesitation, Ranma was off the floor and attacking with the _Kinjin Rashu Dan_. The vacuum blade traveled across the room, knocked the foe to the ground, and destroyed its weapon.

Ranma sighed in relief–and then saw the machine getting up. That was when he grasped onto the power of the Sun and transformed. Suddenly he was splashed by cold water and became female and then the magic of Sol surrounded her. She was garbed in elbow length white gloves and a bright yellow leotard with a red skirt, a spectacular yellow diamond tiara rested on her head and she was suddenly wearing a pair of red high heels. A pair of hot plasma wings appeared on her back and twin yellow and red bracers with the symbol of the sun appeared on her arms. The transformation had taken nano-seconds and when it was complete, she immediately jumped across the room next to the metallic man. She hit him with a plasma enhanced _amaguriken _until she melted it into slag.

Hotaru and Beryl had shouted their transformation phrases as well and so Sailor Saturn and Sailor Earth were lifting the heavy door off the elderly lady. They helped her to her feet as she stared at them with awe. "I couldn't believe it. When my son John was killed, I was sure we would lose. I was sure that his last message couldn't be true. After all who would believe that we could be saved by the Sun, Earth, and Saturn?"

Ranma saw confused looks on Hotaru and Beryl's faces and realized that they hadn't quite understood all of the English that Sarah was speaking. From her own escapades with her father training at U.S. military bases she had become more fluent than the average Japanese citizen. In fact she recalled many a sparring session with Sensei William Guile practically kicking English into her. So she looked back at Sarah and smiled. "It looks like your son was right, Commander Conner."

She bowed and said, "I would love to continue this conversation and introduce my friends, but I think you have a more serious issue right now so we will meet again after the battle."

With that thought she looked towards her friends and switched back to Japanese, "Come on girls, let's go see what these terminator things are made of."

She ran out of the room and towards the sounds of gunfire with Beryl and Hotaru close on her heels. The three entered the fray and destroyed the attacking machines turning what had been a rout and retreat into a victory. After the battle, Sarah Conner asked the three of them to come to her office.

The three were back in their civilian identities and walking towards the meeting when Beryl asked, "So Ranma, now that the evil Ranma Saotome is dead, will you be taking your old name back?"

Ranma smiled back at her and said, "No, I'm not that attached to it anymore. You can call me Ranma…" He paused for a moment and then continued, "Call me Ranma Taya." He smiled at that as they walked into the office and began their meeting with Sarah Conner. He had gained a new understanding with his memories of being Taya. No longer was Taya a separate personality, but instead she was a part and parcel of Ranma now. He also smiled he was feeling a strange new power washing through him. The power he felt was reminiscent of the chronological energy that had washed over the group and taken them to this place, but there was more to it. He investigated the energy within himself for a moment and found time slowing down around him. New and interesting avenues of discovery were opened to him, but as he sat in the seat he decided to leave more experimentation with the energy for later, and spoke once again. "Alright, I suppose we should start with introductions. I am Ranma Taya also known as Sailor Sol."

She pointed to Beryl and said, "This is Beryl also known as Sailor Terra." Beryl Smiled at Commander Conner and tried her own English. "Hello Commander Conner. Pleased I am to be you meeting."

Ranma tried to stifle a laugh and continued with the introductions pointing to Hotaru and saying, "This is Hotaru Tomoe also known as Sailor Saturn."

Hotaru didn't even try her English—she barely knew anything, so she simply nodded; Ranma continued, "We have come here from another place and time I think, but that doesn't really matter right now. From what I saw out there today fighting those machines I believe that we can and should help you. Perhaps you can explain your situation and I will translate for my friends."

Sarah looked at Ranma and said, "Skynet is a neural net based artificial intelligence. It was originally built by Cyberdyne Systems in 1999. It was given control over the U.S. strategic nuclear arsenal and programmed with a directive of defending the United States against all possible enemies. It started to learn at a geometrical rate, and soon concluded that the greatest threat is humanity itself. To neutralize this threat on August 29th, 1997, Skynet initiated a nuclear war between the United States, Russia, and China with the intent of killing as many humans as possible.

"Skynet gained access to several autonomous military drones and used them to round up survivors, who were forced to build automatic factories and robots that were better at construction than the military robots. Skynet then killed the human slaves or sent them to work on other projects. In the meantime it used the automated factories to rapidly design and produce newer and better machines until it controlled an extremely advanced empire centered in the state of Colorado. The very center of the empire is known as **Sector Zero** and it is located at the Cheyenne Mountain complex in the former location of NORAD.

"In the year 2029, while Skynet was winning the global man/machine war on a strategic level, a last-ditch offensive by my son Connor and his men was able to capture its time displacement device and destroy its primary Sector Zero mainframe. In order to prevent this defeat, Skynet sent a Terminator cyborg back in time to try to kill me before he was born and another back in time to kill him.

"John immediately followed on Skynet's heels and set to work on two missions that would fight back against Skynet's incursions in time. The first mission would send a man named Kyle Reese back in time to save me, and the second would send a reprogrammed Terminator back in time to save himself.

"Both missions were successful, but Skynet apparently had more than those two missions. We should have realized that fact when it was still able to recover and rebuild in less than a year, despite the destruction of Cyberdyne System's main labs and research in 1995. Then, just a few years ago, in 2025, my son was attacked by a newer, terminator. This was soon after we freed people from one of the North American plants. We were able to destroy the terminator, but it was too late. My son died in my arms and that was when he handed me the message. It said we would be saved by Sun, Earth and Saturn."

Ranma looked at Sarah and said, "So that's where we come in. Somehow we need to help you defeat Skynet and make sure that the two missions that your son created actually come to pass, but how can we do that?"

Commander Connor looked at Ranma and said, "I have no idea."

Something nudged Ranma's memories and he held up his transformation pen. He stared at the pen and saw the lines of her magical power within it and the idea came into his head. "How many people know your son is dead, and what did he look like?"

Sarah Pulled an old photo out and said, "Here's a picture. Not many people know the truth. Most of them think he is assisting at another base. Why?"

Ranma looked at the picture and whispered, "Solar Power Disguise."

Normally, the power of a Senshi disguise field could not transform a female into a male body, but because of Ranma's Jyusenkyou magic, it was able to complete its task. Sitting in the chair, the power of the sun brushed over Ranma like a warm summer breeze. His Chinese tangs became a more brilliant red and a bright yellow sun appeared on the center of them. The power of the sun then slowly morphed his features into those of John Conner and he said, "I think I just found a way to complete those missions."

Sarah stared at her son's face in stunned silence. She stared at a stranger wearing the form of her son and cried. Ranma said sheepishly, "I could change back."

"No!" Sarah looked at Ranma and with fierce determination said, "No, please don't let my emotions stop you. This is the best way to defeat the machines once and for all."

"Alright, fine where should we start first?"

Sarah pulled out a map of their position and told her new son about the small forces the humans currently had, and what they knew about the forces arrayed against them. As they discussed plans, Ranma touched his strange new temporal powers again and wondered if his friends had them as well. He wondered what the powers were capable of and then realized that he would soon find out. Baba Yaga's quests were over and the three Senshi were in a new battle now. They had four years to rescue and assemble the rest of the remnants of humanity and then launch an all out offensive on the Sector Zero main frame.


	2. Friction with the machine: Chapter 1

The ancient crone named Baba Yaga cursed and spat saying, "You foolish bones! You damn foolish things! You have ruined everything! Wherever you are, _whenever_ you are I spit on your names! I send you a curse in the names of all the dark gods. Let them hound your steps and try to destroy you, let them bring you to me kneeling and bloody. Then and only then will I personally end your miserable little existences by rending your souls into tiny little gibbets and casting them into oblivion!"

Baba Yaga's Curse: Friction with the machine

Chapter 1

2027 – 8 miles southwest of Falls City in Karnes County, Texas

A small compound of tents can be seen surrounded by a razor wire fence and four guard towers. The towers bristle with weapons and the only exit is a well guarded a set of gates. Outside the gates is a checkpoint with a large metallic tank and a pair of twin gleaming metallic robots armed with high energy weapons. A group of people trudges towards the gates with despair in their eyes. An elderly man looks behind the group and says, "It is finished now. The uranium diggers are complete and the machine to pull everything up is done. They don't need any of us anymore. When we go through those gates they will kill us."

A few of the group members silence him and they all continue dejectedly towards the checkpoint knowing that this may be the last time they see each other alive. Suddenly the robots at the checkpoint start looking around and the silver machine flies overhead at high speed. It explodes in a gigantic burst of plasma and then a small black haired girl with white feathered wings and a purple outfit lands right next to the group and yelled, "_Silence wal_l!"

The twin robots and the tank open fire on the group, but the invisible wall protects them from all harm. Moments later another voice yells out, "_Eruption_!" and hot magma bursts forth from the ground incinerating all three machines. The speaker, s grayish pink haired girl dressed in green and brown, quickly flies past on butterfly wings to be joined in the air by a red haired girl surrounded in plasma flames and flying with flaming wings. The two girls use their combined might to destroy the guard towers and then they take on a squadron of flying machines. When the girls are finished they land softly on the ground and there is only silence.

The red haired girl lands and looks at her black haired friend and speaks, "Saturn, what's going on?"

"Thirty people here. Not sure about tents Sol-San." The red head nods and speaks in a strange language to her friend in the one still flying in the sky. The grayish pink haired girl responds in the same language and then flies in towards the tents. The red head follows close behind watching her back. The two girls find survivors and the red head directs them out of the compound and towards the rest of the humans standing at what is left of the checkpoint.

A female refugee steps towards Hotaru and says, "My child is in there. Have they seen my child?"

Saturn yells towards the Red head using the strange language again and the girl flies over the tents again at high speeds looking in each one. Finding nothing she flies towards the refugees and lands next to the woman. Speaking English the girl says, "I'm Sailor Sol. I work closely with Commander John Conner. He sent us to help you. Can you tell me where your child might be?"

The female human looks at Sailor Sol and says, "I'm Samantha. My boy is called Ian. He is prone to hiding and won't come out unless I call. I need to go in there and call him. Can you come with me?"

Sol nods and takes her hand. "It will be all right ma'am we will find your boy."

The two walk towards the tents while the pink haired girl flies up into the air and watches the skies for activity. As they walk Samantha calls out her son's name. A male voice calls back telling her that he is inside one of the tents. Samantha starts to walk towards the tent, but Sol grabs her shoulder and stops her. Then Sol mutters something silently and a plasma flame surrounds both women. Sol walks into the tent with Samantha behind her and then the tent explodes in a gigantic explosion. When the explosion is over Samantha and Sol can be seen standing in a small crater virtually unharmed. Unharmed until Samantha's hand turns into a silver blade and she attacks. Sol senses the attack and grabs the blade throwing Samantha across the compound. Samantha goes flying into one of the perimeter fences and her body turns into a sliver liquid which is able to flow through. The creature that was Samantha walks back through the fence and towards Sailor Sol. Moments later it is hit by a hot ball of plasma and is no more.

Sailor Sol sighs and then walks slowly around the camp shouting, "Ian! Are you here Ian? It's okay to come out now. After some minutes she stops shouting and walks back towards the checkpoint. When she arrives she addresses the group of humans, "That was a T1000. It is the most advanced infiltration unit created by Skynet. It killed Samantha and took her form possibly with the knowledge that the resistance was interested in shutting down this facility and saving you. Do any of you know if Samantha really did have a young boy named Ian and if so where he might be?"

The elderly man who had been pessimistic about the group's survival approached Sailor Sol and said. "The tent you went to would have been the one he was in. He's not alive anymore. In fact he probably hasn't been for about a week or so. That was when the machines found our secret tunnels and stormed in killing all of the children. It was punishment for our escape plans. Now we know how they found out. Now we know why Samantha's son survived the attack when no one else did. He was a machine! They were both machines, just damned machines!" The old man broke down in tears and then he yelled at Sailor Sol saying, "Why didn't you come earlier! Why couldn't you have come when my grandson Charlie was still alive?" He swung at Sol and missed and then a young brown haired woman came from the group came and put her hand on his shoulder escorting him away. She came back and said, "I'm sorry about that Miss Sol. He's, well we've all bee through a lot. We are all very grateful and would like to thank you for coming and saving us. It's just hard for us."

Sailor Sol looked in her eyes and saw the pain and loss in them. She saw it in her eyes and in the old man's and in every person she had seen in this world. They all had lost something and she couldn't do anything at all about that. She spoke softly and said, mostly to herself, "Protect the weak you always said that pops a martial artist's duty. But, I can't protect them all. Even with all this power…"

Sol's reverie was broken by Beryl, "Reinforcements will be coming soon Sol. We need to be gone."

"First we complete the mission. These people have been working on a machine called The Digger. Isn't that right Miss?"

"Shaw and its Mrs. Shaw my husband may be dead, but I'll carry his name anyway. You're right Miss Sol ever since we were brought here we have been mining Uranium and working on the construction of that **thing**. It is designed to gather all the uranium from the mine without human assistance. If you look close you can just see the glint of metal from here."

Sailor Sol said, "Is that so. Well then I think we have a solution for the machine." She motioned to the young black haired girl with wings and pointed to the glint of metal. The girl leveled her pole arm and shouted, "_Silence Glaive Surprise_!" The Glaive was not leveled very high off the ground, but that did not matter. _The Silence_ came forth and it consumed the ground in front of it making a large trench. It continued farther away making a gigantic tunnel devouring with its hunger until it met the machine called the digger and devoured that as well. Then when it was finished devouring the digger _The Silence_ dissipated.

The group of humans stared in awe at the destruction that had been caused, but they were not allowed to stand there gaping for long when Sailor Sol said, "Alright people listen up! As I said before we have been sent by John Conner and the resistance. We have rescued you and now it is time to get to a safe haven. There are no more machines in the camp so gather whatever necessities you need and meet us back here at this checkpoint in one hour."

When she was done speaking Sailor Sol flew into the air and patrolled the skies for danger while the human refugees found what they needed in their tents and prepared for a long march. When they were finished Sailor Sol met them at the checkpoint with the other two girls. "Alright people listen up! On my right in the green and brown outfit and sporting grayish pink hair is Sailor Terra. On my left in the purple and black outfit and sporting black hair is Sailor Saturn. I am Sailor Sol and the three of us will be with you for the duration of a five day hike to the rendezvous point. From there you will be taken in trucks to a safe haven. Until we get you to that haven we are in charge. We tell you where to eat, where to sleep and what do. There will be no questions asked. If any of you are going to have a problem with that speak up now so that we can leave you here and save the rest of the group from a horrible death that you might cause!"

No one in the group seemed inclined to have problems and so they all followed Sailor Sol as she walked off. As they marched a light came into some people's eyes a light that hadn't been in them for a long time. That light was hope.

* * *

Six days later Ranma Saotome alias John Conner sat in a desk in his private office. The room's walls were covered with many maps of the United States and the rest of the world. On each map were the known locations of Machine facilities and lines were drawn on each one to show the limits of Machine patrols. A few small dots here and there on each map represented Human Resistance outposts. A few other dots represented known human incarceration camps. Ranma sighed as he stared at his maps then he sighed again as he looked at a single white wallboard where he had written two numbers. The first number was the amount of humans in the resistance and the second represented a guess at the numbers of humans left in the incarceration camps. The second number went down every day as the machines slowly eradicated their human servants. Unfortunately the first number was going down as well.

Ranma sighed again and looked at Commander Sarah Conner's report. He thought to himself, _My mother. She's my mother I have to remember that. When I am John Conner she is my mother and I am her son_. Then he read the report:

**EYES ONLY TOP SECRET **

**To: General John Conner **

**From: Commander Sarah Conner**

**RE: ** **St. Louis**** mission **

**The most recent mission in ** **St. Louis**** was mostly successful. With inside help we were able to tunnel in to the production facility and save all of the human workers. By using dogs we were able to find the terminator infiltration units and destroy them. We were also able to use charges and destroy the production facility. The problem arose just as we were escaping the facility one of the factory workers approached the rescue team and exploded killing four of our men and wounding three of the workers. After the explosion I noticed a small pool of silver liquid. Recognizing that the liquid was pooling towards itself I quickly gathered the rest of our team and the workers together we double timed it to the checkpoint. Our retreat was hounded by the T-1000 the entire way. Still we were able to make it to the checkpoint and from there we made haste to a safe zone.**

**John this incident does not mesh with our information. The ** **St. Louis**** factory was in the process of making more HK fighters and bombers as well as the newly advanced T-850 series of infiltration terminators that we assume may be immune to our K-9 units and their senses. The facility has been destroyed, but there was no evidence of any mimetic pollyalloy facilities or any computers on site capable of creating said devices. This means that the T-1000 was most likely not from this facility and unless you have hacker reports that suggest otherwise this may mean that Skynet has created more missions than we ever realized.**

**John please be very careful without the Senshi protocol you are not safe from a T-1000 unit.**

General Conner finished reading the report and glanced at his hacker report. It suggested that Skynet was just starting experimentation in time and space displacement and had made a few halting steps towards the creation of a mimetic pollyalloy. Somehow he knew that his _mother _was right Skynet was using time travel devices in the future to try and stop him now. Anger burned in his very soul as he remembered his past. A past that he hadn't actually lived through but whose memories had been given to him. He remembered that past just like it was yesterday:

* * *

She is standing on the gigantic orbital platform. Gleaming towers and defense turrets shine and the solar fleet stands ready. An honor guard surrounds her and marches her towards a set of gigantic stairs leading to a high platform. At the top of the platform is another young looking lady wearing red robes. She holds a double bladed plasma sword in one hand and the other is holding a single slim rod. Taya knows the woman well from thousand of broadcasts when she was a child and hundreds of briefings. The woman on the platform is her supreme commander the Princess of Sol. Taya freezes at the bottom of the steps wondering if she is worthy; wondering if she will be able to fill the princess' shoes. The princess smiles at her and then she nods. Taya walks slowly up the stairs towards the Princess each step reaffirming her own confidence; confidence in her fighting skills, diplomatic abilities and in herself. By the time she reaches to top of the podium she is practically glowing with confidence and pride.

Taya bows low and the princess and tells her to wait where she is until she calls for her. So she and the honor guard stay at a respectful distance. The princess limps slowly forward on the platform with the help of a young seneschal and begins her speech. "My loyal soldiers I have been with you for almost three hundred years. I have been with you during our finest hours among the moons of Jupiter. I have been there with you at the most trying battle of Callisto. I have been there for all the ups and downs, through horrible and bloody combat and quiet diplomacy. My tenure as princess has been the most satisfying and wonderful thing I have ever been given the privilege of doing while at the same time it has also been the most grueling and even heart wrenching job I have ever been given. In all of those times the best and the worst, the one thing that kept me going was our ideal; the ideal that we have all known and understood throughout our lives. **Solis Custodes Omnis!**"

The honor guard around them, the crown gathered below and even Taya herself repeated back in a crescendo of sound, "**Solis Custodes Omnis!**"

The princess waited for the roar to die down before she continued on. "But, as you may all know I have become ill. A strange sickness has grown within me that even the power of the Sun can not cure. As the sickness gained strength I set out to find a replacement; a person who could complete the most grueling physical tasks and understand the most subtle diplomacy; a person who would truly understand our ideal and continue to uphold it for all time."

The princess gestured and nodded to Taya who then came forward onto the platform as well. The princess held Taya's hand and said, "To all the loyal soldiers of Sol most of you know this woman standing next to me is. Many of you have fought by her side in battle. Many of you have seen her brilliant tactics near Uranus. For those of you who have not had the honor of serving under her and those of you who have please allow me to introduce to you all for the last time to General Taya!"

The crowd exploded into applause once again and the princess said, "Now comes the time for me to pass my mantle on and to give you a new princess, one with vitality and vibrancy, one with intelligence and power." The Princess held out the rod and slowly handed it to Taya. Taya held the rod up high and felt the power of sol within the little rod and stared at the princess. Then she looked at the rod in her hands again and suddenly all of her confidence was gone. If she did this, if she used the rod the princess would die.

A tear came to Taya's eye and she started to lower the rod. She didn't feel worthy anymore, not at all, but the Princess looked at her and whispered. "You must do this. I will die soon anyway. Someone must be the princess and I have chosen you. You are worthy to be my successor."

Taya held the rod up and said the words, "Solar Strength Makeup." Suddenly the magic of Sol surrounded Taya and transformed her. She was garbed in elbow length white gloves and a bright yellow leotard with a red skirt, a spectacular yellow diamond tiara rested on her head and she was suddenly wearing a pair of red high heels. Then in her hands was a red and yellow double bladed sword. She ended the transformation in a battle pose.

The Princess of Sol stood next to Taya and she was now dressed in loose flowing white robes. The Princess started to fall, but Taya caught her. In her Taya's arms the princess looked directly into her eyes and said quietly, "Remember always remember **Solis Custodes Omnis**." Those were her last words.

Suddenly the honor guard surrounded Taya and the seneschal said loudly and clearly, "The Princess is dead! Long live Princess Taya!"

The assembled crowd shouted back in a crescendo of sound, "Long Live Princess Taya!"

* * *

Ranma broke out of the memory and said to himself, "This is about Skynet isn't it?" He knew the answer already he knew why the memory had come to him. It was because Taya's entire purpose had been to a protector, a watcher that was the promise she had made to her princess a promise to a dead woman. Skynet had originally been designed to do the same thing. It had been designed to protect and watch over the human race, but it had completely turned on that duty and while that pissed Ranma Saotome off it sent Taya into a veritable volcano of anger and this new tactic of using time travel was just the icing on the cake. It was just one more reason to want the machine and its allies destroyed forever.

Ranma took a number of cleansing breaths and then a phone on his desk rang. He picked it up and heard his own female voice say, "Yes?" That was when he realized that he was a girl and wearing the Senshi outfit. He quickly changed back into his John Connor disguise and tried again saying, "Yes?"

It was Beryl on the other end. She laughed and said, "Sir Lieutenant Colonel Peterson is here for the briefing on the extraction mission in Las Vegas."

Ranma stared at his desk trying to remember which mission that was then he saw a manila folder with Las Vegas stamped on its edge. He picked it up and opened it on his desk thanking the gods that Beryl had once been a megalomaniacal queen and that said experience lead her to be the worlds most efficient Office Manager as well as a great fighter. He said, "Alright send him in. Oh and Master Sergeant when is the next practice session?"

"It should be on your right sir. Hotaru just gave me the updated training schedule for all base personnel an hour ago."

Ranma smiled again. When he originally had met Hotaru she had been a sickly black haired girl. Now with his training she had become almost as good as Beryl and had gained a knack for teaching advanced combat skills to others. He had no idea what he would do without either of the two girls. "Alright, thank you Beryl."

Beryl said, "You're welcome sir." Then her voice became husky as she included, "Maybe this time when we're done we can shower together..."

Ranma stiffened when he remembered the last time that had happened. The two other girls had splashed her with warm soapy water and then chased him around flinging more soap on him. He had retaliated and it had become a soapy nude battle that he had barely extricated himself from before, well before… Ranma forcible broke himself out of that second reverie and held his nose saying, "That will be all Master Sergeant!"

"Very well sir." The voice on the line teased. Then a tall brown haired man walked into the room and saluted. Ranma looked up at the rigid young man realizing that it was Lieutenant Colonel Peterson. Something felt wrong and that strange power he had gained was acting up, but he ignored it, figuring that he would examine the power later during practice.

"At ease."

The young man sat down and Suddenly Sailor Saturn appeared in front of him. The black haired girl shouted, "_Silence Wall_!" and then the Lieutenant exploded. "The explosion expended itself on Saturn's protective barrier while everything inside was left unharmed. Saturn dropped the barrier and embraced Ranma with a wash of tears going down her face. "Thank the gods you're alive Ranma-san uh I mean Conner-San!"

Ranma accepted the embrace with a bit of shock. He tried to comfort the girl and as her tears dried a little Sailor Terra flew though the demolished doorway and into the room they both said, "Okay what the hell just happened here?"

Saturn seemed happier as she let go of the hug and then she beamed at Earth. "It worked! Your theory was correct, you figured out a way to use the strange chronological energy we have running through us and **it worked**!"

Ranma looked confused and said, "Okay Hotaru, but, what exactly does that mean."

"It means that we can travel through time and that Beryl's theory might be true."

Ranma and Beryl looked at each other with confusion plain on their faces. Ranma used his General Conner voice to say, "Okay Commander Tomoe why don't you start again this time you can start from the top?"

Hotaru just giggled and hugged Ranma again. "Yes Sir, General Sir!" She said smiling at him and then she kissed him on the forehead, the nose and finally full on the lips. It was electric and powerful. Ranma felt himself stiffening and then the kiss was over. Hotaru stepped back and said almost lecherously, "Shall I continue on down sir or should I just stay at the top?"

Ranma was too shocked to say anything other than, "Gah!"

Beryl stepped forward and said, "Terra, I know your English can be bad, but even you should know that he meant that you should tell us the entire story."

Hotaru beamed at Beryl and said, "I know that Terra-san, but I've wanted to do that ever since Sailor-Sol saved my life. You know how prude and shy she-he can be. Plus, I wanted to make up for all that time he's been gone from us. It's been years"

A tear came to Hotaru's eye as she finished speaking and Beryl walked over to her and hugged her saying, "No harm I understand." Then she put her lips close to Hotaru's ear and said, "But I get one too after you're done telling us the details."

Hotaru stepped back and said, "From him or me?"

Beryl licked her lips and said lasciviously, "Both!"

"Beryl-san!" Hotaru didn't look nearly as shocked as she sounded. Beryl wondered about that for a moment and then she saw some people coming from another office. She sighed and said, "Play time is over Saturn. I'll prop what's left of this door up and then Master Chief Beryl can deal with the commotion.

Hotaru sighed wistfully as Sailor Earth propped the door up. Then Earth changed into Beryl changed and walked out the door and explained the situation to the new comers. After a bit more chaos and an announcement to the entire base about the incident there was finally time for Hotaru, Beryl, and Ranma to sit back down around Ranma's desk.

Hotaru looked at her friend sadly and said, "This is hard for me. Very hard, so please let me tell it all the way through. You can ask me questions when I'm done."

The other two nodded and Hotaru started her tale, "It all started today. You see Ranma-san didn't originally survive the explosion. We tried and tried to heal him, but shrapnel had pierced his brain, heart and lungs. He wasn't conscious and without his Senshi powers to aid us there was nothing we could do.

"After that we buried him in Japan near the old location of Tokyo. We came back here and tried to pick up the pieces, but neither of us could disguise ourselves to be John Conner. We tried to keep the death a secret, but without a real person it just wasn't possible this time. Too many people knew he had been here on this base and the machines themselves started to circulate a rumor. Once people realized that John had been killed they lost their spirit and will. Beryl and I tried to fight anyway, we tried to keep the resistance together, but Commander Sarah Conner was killed in an assassination attempt as well. Without her our voices were not enough. We were shouted down and most of the resistance stopped fighting back and instead retreated to the Carlsbad safe zone, thinking that it would truly be safe from the machines."

"In the end only Beryl and I were left fighting. For awhile it seemed like the safe zone would truly be a safe zone and then one day the machines massed a massive force and set out directly towards the safe zone. Beryl and I fought the army for what seemed like days. Destroying their air support and ground units, but they just kept on coming and then it happened. We were only 15 miles from the safe zone when we saw the gigantic nuclear blast. The army had just been a decoy, a decoy to keep Sailor Saturn and Sailor Earth busy while the infiltration units set the bomb. We had defeated an entire army, but we had lost the war. My hope almost died that day, but Beryl convinced me to go on. She convinced me that maybe we could do something. That maybe the new power we had originally felt when we came to this world would be useful."

"Without any people left to protect we stopped fighting the machines and started to experiment with the power. After two practice sessions we realized that the new power was chronological in nature and so our hopes rose even more. We spent even more and more time using the power and it did not subside."

"We continued to use the power and determined that we could use it to travel through time, but not for long distances. We could only go back or forward in time for short distances at most a few minutes. Each time we used the power we reached a limit and it was like we were missing a piece of the puzzle."

"That was when Beryl theorized that we were not using left over power from the Gate of Time, but that instead when we had used our power to try and destroy the Gate we only partially succeeded. She suggested that somehow when the artifact had disintegrated from our attack it had immediately tried to reintegrate itself. The problem being that we were right there and so when the gate reintegrated itself it put its pieces into us and that was why we were able to access this new temporal power even when we weren't in our Senshi forms."

"Still, without you we were only two thirds of the gate. We needed the third piece of the gate to truly access the power. We traveled to Tokyo hoping that your body would contain that last piece of the gate. Imagine our surprise when we arrived at your grave and found one third of an archway sticking up from the ground proving that Beryl's theory was correct."

"About an hour after we arrived an entire squadron of machines attacked. By then they had created battle tanks capable of withstanding our attacks and could use their own technological devices to teleport anywhere on the planet. We still weren't sure if we could use your portion of the gate, but we didn't want the machines to gain possession of it either. So, we followed your example and improvised. Sailor Terra held onto your portion of the gate with one hand and I held her other hand. She channeled her power through that portion of the gate and into me while I used my power and envisioned the time and date that I wanted to arrive at."

Hotaru finished her tale by saying, "It worked and now here I am."

Beryl spoke up first, "What about the Hotaru who was just here? Shouldn't there be two copies of you now or something?

"No, I arrived within her body. That is what happened on our previous attempts to travel into the past. We always ended up in our own bodies. You theorized that it might be some type of anti-paradox effect."

Beryl smiled and said, "Hmm, yes that makes some sense. It doesn't completely eliminate paradox, but it does prevent you from meeting or interacting with your past and future selves.

Ranma looked at Beryl with confusion and said, "How do you know all this stuff?"

"It goes with the territory. Remember that I was a megalomaniacal queen out to rule the world and defeat the people who were reborn in the present from a past where their own Queen had trapped my empress and me in an otherspace dimension."

Ranma looked at her and said, "You mentioned that the first time you told me about your past. To be honest I still don't quite understand it all. I don't suppose switching this conversation to Japanese would help with it or the whole time travel thing?"

"No not really."

"Alright let's just move on then. I think what you're saying is that as long as we are together we can travel through time even without the Skynet device?"

"That's right Ranma-san."

"Okay, one more thing. Just before the Lieutenant exploded I felt a strange power inside me acting up. It also happened in Texas when the child blew up and the T-1000 attacked me. What do you think? Is my portion of the gat reacting to someone or something else that has traveled through time?"

"It does seem possible."

"I concur Ranma-san."

Ranma pondered that for a moment and said, "So we have an early warning device and we should start heeding it immediately. Any time you feel your portion of the gate reacting you should transform immediately and put up a shield. Hopefully that will prevent any more successful assassinations on us."

Beryl said, "But will that be enough? We know now that sometime in the future the Machines will complete their time travel device and will be able to use it many more times than we ever suspected. That means even though we can avoid personal harm our plans could be foiled through other means just through the machines own knowledge of past events. We need to stop their time traveling and we need to stop it right now."

"How can we do that Beryl-san?"

"I don't know we already determined that a direct attack on the Cheyenne Mountain complex would be suicidal. We can teleport to the front gates, but without more knowledge of the internal base we wouldn't get inside without fighting an army of machines and going through a veritable maze filled with traps."

Ranma looked at a chart in his office with man power and supplies. He looked at the map of human slave camps and resistance outposts. He looked at it all and said, "It's not possible. We don't have enough support troops and equipment right now and we just won't have enough men or equipment for at least two years. Maybe we could rush things, but I doubt it and Sarah Conner agrees."

"We need more time." Ranma sighed looking at a digital display on his desk it read 2:00 P.M. July 14, 2027. Suddenly the idea came into his head. "That's it time!"

The other two girls stared at him for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. Ranma took a deep breath and said, "Alright we can't just enter the facility right now and destroy Skynet or its time travel machine. Heck, the time machine doesn't even exist yet, but we could go back in time right? Back when Skynet didn't exist and then we could destroy it couldn't we?"

Beryl shook her head and said, "Wait, didn't Commander Conner herself tell us that she went in with her son and a terminator unit. They destroyed Cyberdyne System's main labs and research and yet it was able to recover in only a year right? Doesn't that the future is fixed?"

Ranma said, "Maybe you are right Beryl, but we should try. If it doesn't work we know that Skynet is using Cheyenne Mountain as its base of operations. We can go there in the past and figure out where it is. Once we know Skynet's location we can travel forward in time again perhaps all the way to 2029 where we will then be able to destroy it and the time machine. Either way we will destroy Skynet once and for all time."

Hotaru and Beryl voiced agreement with the plan and Ranma said, "Alright now all we need to do is learn how to use the gate and its power right?"

Hotaru nodded once again and Ranma smiled to himself. He thought that the day had gone quite well all things considered after all he should be dead and he wasn't, plus they now had a plan to defeat Skynet and its time travel device. It was a perfect plane. What could go wrong?

Author's Notes:

Baba Yaga's Quests will remain unchanged, but I have decided that I will work on this again and so I have cleaned this chapter and added a prologue which is a somewhat changed version of the epilogue in the Quests. I have done all of this in preparation for future chapters to come. The terminator arc will likely take at least two more chapters to finish up and then Ranma and the gang will be off to other horizons.

I hope to see you there.

Q


	3. Friction with the machine: Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Sigh…I don't own it, not one single part of it and if I forgot to add a disclaimer in any other chapter this will hopefully suffice. In addition the time travel theory presented in this work is based on work done by others. I have modified it to fit the story and I hope that it isn't too complex.

Baba Yaga's Curse: Friction with the machine

Chapter 2

Ranma walked into a small room. He smiled to himself as realized how lucky he had been. Their previous base had become too hot and on a tip from one of the resistance fighters Sailor Terra had come here to Nevada to see if she could find a new base of operations. She had not been able to find anything in the mountains, but as she was flying over Nevada she had noticed an old runway near a large lake. She landed and scouted the area. That was when she found this place. He almost didn't believe it when she handed him the report, W_hy in the world did the __United States__ Air force build a large underground bunker in the middle of the __Nevada__ dessert_?

Ranma still didn't quite understand it, so he walked to a faded map that was hanging on the wall in the room. The legend at the top of the map said, "Nellis Air Force Range." On it he could see a large lake apparently called, "Groom Lake." and next to that were a series of pictures showing the different areas and underground portions of the range.

Hotaru and Beryl walked in the door as he was studying the map. Beryl cleared her throat and said, "Rather amazing isn't it General? I would say that they were trying to hide something here, activities that they didn't want the rest of the world to know about."

Ranma turned around and said, "Well then I guess we're putting it to the same use then. How are the troops settling in Commander?"

Hotaru smiled and said, "Everyone has been suitably accommodated. I put Lieutenant Peterson and Paxton in charge of two groups assigned to explore the facility. In addition one of the new recruits says that she has some experience with radar equipment. I put her under Major Baxter and assigned his team the task of repairing the tower.

"Excellent job Commander Tomoe, now why don't we take a seat and find out what Master Chief Beryl has to tell us."

Beryl placed some papers down at the table and then they all took seats. Beryl said, "Okay why don't we take a moment to familiarize ourselves with these reports."

Ranma glanced through the reports recognizing them immediately. They were the reports that Commander Sarah Conner had given to him when he had originally disguised himself as her son and become John Conner. The reports detailed the entirety of Sarah Conner's knowledge and experience fighting machines that had come to the past in order to kill her or her son.

Beryl then said, "With these reports in hand and with Hotaru's own journey through time you can both see we have an interesting dilemma on our hands right now, before we even start."

Ranma looked at the papers and said, "What do you mean? It seems to me that even without Senshi powers we could take on one or two T-800 units without breaking a sweat."

"That's not the problem General."

"Okay, then what exactly is the problem?"

Ranma and Hotaru looked at her and she said, "For those of us here without a knowledge of temporal mechanics. The problem is that we are dealing with a major paradox effect here."

Hotaru looked at Beryl and said, "Wait, I though you told me that appearing in our own bodies would prevent paradoxes?"

"Unfortunately it seems that it may only be a slight protection against specific paradoxes like meeting yourself and such. In the details of these reports we see that Skynet sent a Terminator to go back in time and kill Sarah Connor, thereby preventing John Connor from being the leader of the resistance forces that would destroy Skynet. Yet, it seems to me that, had the Terminator not been sent to kill John Conner then Kyle Reese would not have been sent back in time to become John Conner's father. Meaning that without Skenet's mission John Connor would not have been born."

Hotaru and Ranma looked at Beryl with wide eyes as they took that detail in. Beryl continued on to say, "Not only that, but it is also possible that had the Terminator not gone back in time, Cyberdyne Systems wouldn't have found its CPU or arm and Skynet might not have been made."

Hotaru took it all in and the small black haired girl said, "That's not possible is it? It's like a bridge standing without a foundation."

Beryl shrugged her shoulders and said, "Yes, that's an almost perfect analogy. We stand here on a bridge of time that has no support structure."

"So what can we do about this whole bridge thing?"

Beryl smiled at Ranma and said, "That is an excellent question. Let's go about this by looking at another scenario that we know. Hotaru is from the future; she came back in time and prevented someone's death, but when she did so she took over her own body. That future will not occur now and she will not be coming back in time to prevent it. In effect it is like Hotaru was only given knowledge of a _possible_ future."

"That can't be right Beryl-San, I was there all of it happened to me. It was real."

"I'm sorry Hotaru I didn't mean to imply that it had not happened to you, but instead to imply that as real as it was that future no longer exists. You prevented it from happening."

"Now as you can see our own time travel capabilities are a way to almost completely insulate us from paradox. It is an ingenious system possibly built into the very nature of the time gates that we carry inside of ourselves. I suspect that we may even be insulated against the grandfather paradox."

"Is that the one where you go back in time and kill your own grandfather?"

"Yes, that's the one General. If you do that what happens?"

Ranma took it in and tried to mull it over he worked through it aloud and then admitted that it seemed impossible. "Yes, originally I would have hypothesized that doing something like that would create and infinite time loop. One that started at your grandfather went all the way to you and your time machine and then when you went back and killed your grandfather time would move forward to where you should have created the machine and snap back."

"Wait if that's true why would you have sent Hotaru back in time to save me?"

Beryl said, "I assume that my now non-existant future counterpart came up with a new hypothesis. Possibly it is the same the new hypothesis that I came up with based on these reports and our own experience."

Beryl took a sip of water and then said, "We know for a definite fact that time is not linear and that we are currently on a timeline where the statement that an object, such as John Conner's father, exists is true and yet at the same time there must once have been or there still is another timeline where either John's father does not exist or where he is not Kyle Reese. Do you think you understand?"

Ranma and Hotaru nodded and Beryl spoke again, "Okay, now here is where I run into a problem. Do both of the branches in the timeline continue to exist?"

Hotaru looked up shocked and said, "I don't know, but I dearly hope not because if both exist then there is now a time and place where you are alone fighting against the machines. I'm so sorry Beryl-San."

Sadness came to the girl's eyes and Beryl put her hand on Hotaru's small ones in comfort. "There now, I would have wanted you safe and I believe that the timelines cease to exist for those of us who carry a piece of the time gates. As I said before the gate seems to protect us from this type of paradox."

Ranma added, "Yeah, but what about when someone else uses a time machine?"

Beryl smiled again and said, "Well we know that after sometime in the future Skynet will send terminator units back into the past. Now that leads to a very interesting question why did John Conner survive? Shouldn't Skynet's first mission have destroyed him by killing his mother? If so there should be another timeline branch."

Hotaru said, "Perhaps the Terminator unit failed the mission, no wait wouldn't Skynet have known?"

Beryl smiled and said, "Yes that's it exactly Skynet is a logical thinking machine, it not only would have known that its mission would fail, but it would also have realized that this time line branching might occur. Either way it would have no reason to send something back in time unless…"

Hotaru jumped in excitedly saying, "Unless somehow it could make sure a timeline branch would not occur?"

Ranma said, "So how would Skynet do something like that?"

Beryl said, "Well, we know the gates of time can do it for us, but it seems to me that if Skynet's system worked like the gates then once again we would be in a world without a John Conner. So, I believe that Skynet is not using the same type of system. I did some calculations and I spent some time on figuring it out. The only way to travel in the past and affect your timeline without causing a branch would be to connecting your time period to another time period in a synchronous way. That would mean any travel into the past and any changes would not occur until after the same amount of time passed in the future.

Hotaru and Ranma looked at Beryl with confusion apparent on their faces and she said, "I know it's hard to understand, but allow me to give you an example. Say in 2029 Skynet sends a T-800 unit back to 1997 to assassinate John Conner. That unit takes oh say five to six days to accomplish its mission. Well then because of the synchronous connection five to six days have to pass in 2029 for the affects to be seen."

"Okay that is the only explanation I can think of as to why Skynet would send a unit back in time, but would then be unable to know if it had succeeded in its mission. It would also explain why Skynet would create more than one mission as well as explaining Cyberdyne's amazing recovery after Sarah Conner destroyed its facility. After all if Skynet's is indeed losing the war, then it may think that its time travel machine will allow humans to send people back in time, possibly with their own assassination missions. It needs to assure that enough future time will pass so that the synchronous affect will work."

Hotaru said, "So in addition to assassination missions, Skynet has been sending units into the past to ensure its own existence."

Ranma sighed. "So, even if we go back in time and destroy Cyberdyne again it might not be enough?"

"Exactly, to make sure that Skynet is destroyed we would need to find and destroy every single Terminator unit that has been sent back in time."

"Beryl-san is that even possible? Skynet could have sent the units anywhere on the planet and into any time it liked. It would be like finding a few specific grains of sand on the beach."

The room was quiet for a moment and then Ranma stood up and said, "No, wait that can't be right. I don't understand all of this, but something sounds wrong there."

"You are correct Ranma, what you're missing Hotaru is Skynet's machine is creating these synchronous connection between the different times frames that takes quite a bit of power. I don't know how many of such connections it can create, but the number can not be infinite."

"So then our best option would be to concentrate on 1997 and the years after that correct Beryl-San?"

Beryl smiled and said, "Yes, using our current knowledge we know that Skynet will not be created until sometime after 1997."

"Have I ever said that you are extremely intelligent?"

Beryl smiled with mischief. Figuring out the calculations and possibilities involved in time travel and then discussing her theories on it had become tedious and somewhat boring and now she was in the mood for fun. "You mention it from time to time Ranma, but I really would prefer it if you'd start noticing my body." As she said that Beryl unbuttoned the top two buttons on her blouse. When she was done she thrust her chest forward out. Ranma stared at it for a moment and then he shut his eyes. He blushed beet red and cringed back and said, "I didn't uh you, I mean..."

Beryl buttoned her blouse again and sighed, "Someday I will have remind myself to have a **seriou_s_** talk with one Akane Tendo. In the meantime I suppose we should get back to the main topic of our discussion."

Hotaru whispered, "You'd have thought the shower incident would loosen him up somewhat, but it seems that it was only a fluke."

Ranma blushed as she said that and thought, _That? It was harmless and we were completely covered with bubbles. Hell, I didn't even realize we were naked, because I was so focused on the fun and sparring. It was only when we stopped to rest that I realized I was even a guy, let alone the fact that I was sitting there naked with two women…_

Ranma didn't voice his thoughts, but he did blush again as he finished them. Hotaru looked at him and said, "You are right Beryl-san we should get back to planning, blushing like that may not be good for Ranma-San's health."

"Good, now if only **General Conner** would open his eyes and tell us what he thinks the plan should be…"

Ranma tried to pretend that the entire incident hadn't occurred. "We should use our own powers to go back to 1997 and search for anything that might seem like the slightest trace of Skynet or a Terminator unit. We will search them out, we will find them and when we do we will **terminate** them."

Ranma finished the plan and stood up. He stepped over to a clear area and dropped his John Conner disguise. The young Japanese man was still wearing his green camouflage and his General's patches as he said, "Any questions or other items?"

Hotaru said, "Perhaps we should arrive in clothing more suited to the time period?"

"Either of you now what those might be?"

Beryl nodded and said, "The most often used outfit in America seems to be Blue Jeans, a T-shirt, and sneakers."

"Right, then use your disguise fields until we find some real stuff." Ranma said as he held up a pen and transformed his clothes. The other girls had done the same and the two walked over to him and each grabbed one of his hands. "What time and Place should we appear in Ranma-San?"

"Why not just use this room?"

The two girls nodded. Ranma said, "Let's do this thing." All three concentrated on using the power of the Gates of Time. The power flared out from each of them and then they were somewhere else.

* * *

1997 Nellis Air Force Range 

A middle aged man is standing at a podium in same small room that Ranma, Beryl and Hotaru were in. Four air force officers and a man in an Armani suit sit at the table. In front of them are piles of papers and cups of coffee. The man is standing at a small podium next to a large white screen and an immaculate American flag. He clicks a button and a projector on the table makes a new image appear on the screen. It is a well drawn picture of an almost human looking robot. People were in the picture as well and they were shooting various guns at the robot. "Here you can see the possibilities of the design. The carbon steel composite chassis could withstand almost any form of small arms fire and continue moving towards its target."

The man clicked the mouse again and a new picture came up. It was a close-up of the metallic head and chest cavity. "Here you can see more detail on the chest cavity. It will hold a large computer that will be capable of handling the operation of the hydraulics and the video cameras in the eyes. I would also like to point your attention to the Small unit connected to the computer in the chest cavity. That, my friends is a Wi-Fi system invented in 1991 by NCR Corporation, also known as AT&T, in their labs in the Netherlands. It will be capable of allowing someone to control the unit from distances as great as perhaps a mile and even more as the technology improves."

The Colonel clicked his mouse again and it showed a single image with an entire troop of robotic soldiers holding AK-47's, planes flying above them and Tanks moving next to them. A small square in a corner showed a single man in a well protected room looking at a computer screen. The title of the slide said, "The Skynet project: Tools for the new millennium of warfare."

"There you have it gentlemen. We can start the Skynet project right now by signing a contract with the good gentlemen from Cyberdyne Research Systems and own the future or we can lose out." With that final statement the Colonel ended his presentation and brought up the lights. The rest of the men seated at the table conferred for a moment and one in a very impressive Armani Suit Stood up. "Well I must say that I am impressed Colonel Brewster."

"Thank you Mr. Cohen."

"No, this is exactly what we have been looking for and the President will be pleased. If this project works as well as you suggest then I see a future that is safer and better for all Americans. The president gave me his authorization if I liked the project and I do. So, on my authority as Secretary of Defense I am giving the Skynet Project a green light. Set up shop and start working Colonel, I will want to see a status report in five months."

With that final statement Mr. Cohen walked out of the room and the group followed after him. The Colonel sat down and then realized that one person other than himself had not left the room. The man still seated was rather large with salty black hair and a smooth face. He moved his chair closer to the Colonel and said, "Good presentation Rob. I almost think that you're bucking for my position."

"No sir, General. I wouldn't presume."

"Cut it, Colonel and come on with me. I'll buy you a drink and tell you a few secrets eh?"

Rob stared at the general gaping for a moment and then he said, "I'd uh..I'd be honored sir." The two stood up as a brilliant light shown in the room. A young boy with a black pony tail and two girls appeared out of nowhere.

The General shouted, "Security!" He stood up and went for his side arm, but the boy was already on top of him. The gun was batted away and he was knocked to the ground. Rob tried to go for his weapon as well, but a swift kick from the insanely fast boy knocked it away and then he was sent flying into a wall. The door to the room opened and the pony tailed boy leaped into the air and landed on the edge of the table tilting it upwards and onto its edge. Papers filled the air like confetti giving the soldiers coming in a scant field of vision. Suddenly three bright lights shone in the room again and a girl who looked like she was made from living plasma made her appearance as the papers finished falling to the ground. The soldiers entering the room fired just as a voice behind the flaming girl said, "_Silence Wall_."

The small arms fire pattered against the Silence Wall like rain on an umbrella. Ranma looked over towards his friends. Hotaru was holding up her glaive and Beryl was standing in a ready position. He said, "Earth we need a different shield. Saturn we need an exit on my mark."

Beryl said, "_Earth Shield_!" and a column of rock rose from the ground and surrounded the three senshi. Hotaru dropped the _Silence Wall _and looked towards Sailor-Sol. The girl concentrated for a few moments and pointed. "No chi signatures that way do it quick, people are moving all over and we don't want to hit one."

Hotaru immediately unleashed her powers. The Silence came and devoured everything in its path. When it was over the three girls flew up into the air and out of the 30 foot hole created by Hotaru's powers. Once they were outside they realized it was night time and Sailor-Sol was lighting up the sky. It was a single brilliant light that could be seen for miles around. She realized how dangerous that might me and damped down her powers, effectively disappearing back into the darkness.

As the three senshi flew away into the darkness sounds of an alert siren going off could be heard for miles around and then the sounds of an entire air force range being mobilized for action could be heard as well. Aircraft engines roared, helicopter blades thwupped, car and truck engines were started and even dogs could be heard.

The three girls quickly did a survey of their surroundings. The air was cool and the night was pitch dark. The flat dessert of Nevada allowed them to see for miles around. Ranma said, "It looks like town might be that way. Our best option might be to head to a town and drop our Senshi guises. The other two girls agreed and made their best speed towards Las Vegas. A pack of helicopters seemed to unerringly bear down on their position. The three took evasive action, but were unable to lose their tail and so Sailor Sol turned her head and shot small streamers of plasma at the helicopters.

The blades sizzled and snapped apart sending the aircraft to the ground. The three scouts continued onwards towards their goal fighting some more helicopters and planes until they finally lost their tail somewhere outside of Las Vegas.

They found a safe place to land and transformed into their civilian forms. After that they walked slowly into the city and towards the lights of the strip. While they were walking Hotaru said innocently, "Perhaps we should have chosen a different location Ranma-san?"

"How was I supposed to know it would be inhabited when we got here? The place was completely deserted in 2027, like no one had been in it for years." He immediately realized what he said and groaned, "Oh man, I shoulda' realized."

Beryl put a hand on Ranma's shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it Ranma neither of us thought any differently. It was a simple mistake that we will rectify in any of our future travels through time."

Ranma smiled and said, "Right, Beryl's rules of time travel number one avoid areas where people might happen to see you." The group laughed and walked on. Finally they found a hotel. They entered the small hotel and the man at the desk said, "Well, you just get inta' town?"

"Yeah, we're just staying the night."

"That'll be $200, cash or credit?"

Ranma looked at the man for a moment and then said, "Just a second." He walked off towards Hotaru and Beryl who were looking at a large map of the area. Ranma stared at it for a moment and then said, "Guys, did we happen to bring any money?"

The two looked at him for a moment and they both said, "Money?" Beryl added, "We haven't been using money why can't he just allow us to bunk down here? Members of the resistance always allow…"

Ranma looked at her and then he pointed to a calendar. "Hmm, I suppose we have gotten used to the future and all that entails. Perhaps your jest has become a good idea Ranma. We really should make some rules about this sort of thing."

Ranma nodded and then walked to the man at the desk saying, "Sorry man, we don't have enough. I don't suppose you know of any work around here or places to get money?"

The man laughed in Ranma's face and said, "You could try your lucky in any of the Casino's I suppose. They got both money and jobs that need to be filled, but you'd have to show a Visa or green card for the second one and seeing as you have no money now I don't think you have that much of the first one kid."

Ranma growled he wasn't used to being called 'kid' and it stung just a bit and then he saw his own reflection and realized that he looked only 18 possibly 19 at the most. _How long has it been since Nerima? Since me and Ryouga went through all those places and did all those things? How old was Taya and I have all of her memories? I feel so old and yet I guess I'm not, not really that old at all. _

Ranma thanked the man at the desk and said, "Well come on let's find a casino and see what we can do."

Ranma's friends followed him out of the hotel and down towards the strip. They walked into the first casino they could find and heard bells, beeps, whistles, and more. A cacophony of noise. The three stared at the enormity of it all.

After a few moments Ranma said, "I know I've been training you both for two years, but you'll need more than just stealth to do this. You'll need the _Goshin Dai Ryü Sei Fu_ and well, you're still not quite ready for it yet. So, you stay here and I'll be back."

Hotaru looked shocked and said, "Ranma-san surely you don't intend to rob this place do you?"

"I wish that I didn't Hotaru, but let's face it we are in the past trying to find and destroy a menace that is intent on killing the entire human race. To go anywhere in our civilian identities or do anything we are going to need money."

Hotaru took it in for a moment and said, "I understand you are stealing for the greater good of mankind. I'm sorry Ranma-San I should not have thought ill of you."

"Eh, it's no problem. Like I said you guys wait at the Bar and I'll come and drop some money off for you."

Beryl had been listening, but only with half an ear. She was mostly still staring at all the games of chance. She had examined them all and finished her appraisal when she said, "

"You only need to take a small amount of money Ranma. After that I think we may be able to multiply it using legal means."

"Alright, I'll be back." Ranma disappeared from view and Beryl and Hotaru sat down at the bar. A short period of time later Ranma sat down next to them and said, "Alright, I have some money and a handful of these chips, which are apparently worth money. So what's your plan Beryl?"

Beryl Smiled took half the money and half the chips and said, "I plan to play some poker, but you will be at the Roulette wheel and the Black Jack table with young Hotaru. She is excellent with numbers and I believe that she will certainly be more than able to tell you how to place your bids. By the time we are done tonight I believe we should be able to afford the best room in town."

* * *

The General was standing there and looking at a junior ranked Air-force officer, "Report!" 

"Well sir, from the surveillance tapes it seems like our intruders were three females. They all seemed to be around the ages of 16-19 and they were wearing some form of Japanese schoolgirl's outfit. Each one had some form of wings, but we doubt that the wings are what made them capable of flight."

"These girls were able to appear within the bowels of our facility right next to some of the most sensitive material within area 51. From your own report sir and that of the Marine defense unit these girls were able to ignore gunfire with two separate types of shields and then they were able to create a 30 foot diameter hole all the way to the surface. From the surface they flew in a South East direction."

The general said, "Wait, what about the boy? Were they carrying him? Did anyone at all see him?"

"No sir, he was last sighted by the marines as he flipped the desk in the air and hid behind it. The speculation is that he left the same way that the girls entered."

"Hmm, what else do we know Lieutenant Smith?"

The junior officer said, "The three girls were tracked by our defense systems and two separate patrols of three Black Hawk helicopters were able to catch up to them. Unfortunately both patrols were destroyed. The men are safe, but the helicopters will need entirely new blades. In addition the girls were able to take a squadron of planes out of commission."

The lieutenant pulled out a picture on it was a somewhat fuzzy picture of Sailor-Sol. "From surveillance tapes we were able to get this picture. This girl has red, yellow, and white markings. Her hair is red and she seems to have an ability to wield live plasma..."

The officer pulled out an even grainier picture on it could be seen a very bad picture of Sailor-Earth. "This one seemed to be able to create rock formations and apparently even created streams of pure magma. Unfortunately no details of her hair color can be made out, but she does have wings that look almost like a Monarch butterfly."

"What about the third one?"

"I'm sorry General Blackstone we were unable to get a good picture of her." The man handed the general a grainy picture on it could only be seen some white and black in the shape of a person, but not much else.

The General sighed and said, "I will forward this information up the chain of command, but understand me Lieutenant I want these people found and I want us to find them, so I am detailing you and a team of airmen. You will ostensibly be on leave in Las Vegas, but in reality you will be searching for any sign of these girls. Is that understood?"

The man saluted and said, "Yes sir, general sir."

The General saluted and said, "Dismissed."

* * *

In the penthouse suite at the Taj Mahal hotel and Casino in Las Vegas Beryl was setting up a brand new Laptop computer. She looked around and found an extra phone jack in the wall. She connected a phone line from the jack to her computer and then tried something. Moments after that she was on the phone yelling at someone, after some threats and other things Beryl was done and happily typing away. A loud dial tone came from the machine, ringing came next and then a strange buzzing chirping sound. When it was all done a voice said, "Welcome, to AOL." 

Ranma walked into the room fitting a red silk shirt on over a black tank top and said, "Man this feels so good. I feel like I haven't worn this in years."

"You haven't."

"Oh right, so does the computer work?"

"Yes, unfortunately it seems to be very, very slow. Nothing like the equipment I used during the silver millennium."

Beryl typed and waited, then she cursed and said, "Hell Ranma it's not even decent compared to the computers the human resistance was using. I don't suppose you'd be willing to transport into the future to get something better?"

Ranma shook his head and walked over and looked at the machine. Beryl allowed him to sit next to her and he started typing. As he did so he looked thoughtful and suddenly transformed into his female form. The red haired girl said, "Hmm, you are right very primitive, and the speed of electronic data flow is much too slow. Still we may be able to use it for some of our research. Other than that I suppose we will have to visit some libraries and other institutes where information is kept."

Hotaru walked into the room with a towel on her head and a fluffy pink bathrobe. "The shower is all yours Beryl-san." She looked over at Ranma and said, "Oh Ranma-san it looks like you have finished your shower as well and what a lovely shirt that is."

"Thanks Hotaru." Both Ranma and Beryl Ranma said. They looked at each other and laughed. Beryl stood up and said, "Well I'll take the offer and perhaps Hotaru can work with you on this antiquated piece of junk."

Hotaru took Beryl's place next to Ranma and the grayish pink girl headed off towards the shower. The black haired girl watched Ranma working and said, "It is very slow isn't it?"

"Yeah, if I didn't have memories of being Taya I wouldn't even know how to work the thing, but with those memories it seems like it's moving at a snails pace. I sure wish I could just bring my hacker team in here from the future."

"Why can't we do that? Why not bring the whole team and any equipment that we might need?"

Ranma shook her head and said, "I don't know something in my gut tells me that's a bad idea. I don't know what it is but something tells me that the three of us have a better chance of success if we try and lay low."

* * *

In a very cold room near a sentient computer a tall, horned, and metallic Minotaur looking creature appeared. It smiled grandly and said, "Skynet, it is good to see you. You are quite lucky that I have come now to save you from certain death." 

Thousands of red beams shown on the creature and a metallic machine voice said, "State your nature and your business."

The creature bowed and said, "You can call me Gusoin. My business is to help Skynet in its plans to destroy humanity."

A pool of liquid metal coalesced into a human shape. It placed a sharp blade at the creature's neck and said, "What would Skynet need from a creature such as yourself?"

"I have knowledge of Skynet's possible failure, knowledge that Skynet will assuredly lose this next battle and that its missions in the past will not succeed."

"Impossible, John Conner will die. He is human, mortal and will be unprepared for the explosion."

The creature almost laughed, "You silly machine, you have already killed John Conner. He died at the hands of that feminine looking terminator you sent to kill him in 2025."

"No, if that were true his forces would not be assembling."

"Unless he was replaced by another just as capable of leading as he. If John Conner was replaced by someone then he could indeed still be here."

The metallic man put his blade away and melted to the floor and the red beams that were all over Gusoin went away. The machine voice said, "Continue, Skynet is listening."

"Very well I have been watching you from another dimension. I have been watching you tamper and play with the time line to try and keep yourself alive. Even now you have just sent another T-X unit to try and kill John Conner in the year 2003, but you have been ignoring everything that has happened since 2025."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that y_ou are dealing with people from another universe, people who have powers beyond your knowledge. These people have the ability to fly, throw living plasma, expanded knowledge of ancient martial arts techniques and more." _

_Understanding came as the machine said, "You mean the machines the humans have created called the Senshi? We have special counter measures that will take over their programming and bring them to our side." _

_The metallic minotaur shook his head and said, "Sadly two dimensional thinking. What is powerful must be a machine, but what should I expect?" _

_Dusoin did not wait for an answer and said, "They are **not** machines, they are specially trained humans who wield powerful magics. Something you are not prepared to deal with. Let me help you, give me as many machines as you can and I will enhance them with my own magic. I will lead them into the past and destroy these interlopers for you." _

_"Agreed." _

_A large door opened and allowed Gusoin into another level of the base there he found twenty frozen T-800 units and three other cylinders with new prototypes. Gusoin smiled and a machine voice said, "Query, why would the creature named Gusoin be willing to assist Skynet in this endeavor?" _

Gusoin smiled and said_, "_I am Gusoin one of the dark gods. _I _defile all things, present, past, and to come. I rule over forty five legions of demons and I am here helping you because I have been assigned to repay a debt. I will destroy the three you call Senshi and bring them before Baba Yaga, bleeding and begging for an end to their existence."

Author's Notes: Strangely enough now that I have my own working ideas on time travel I fully intend to use it in my other stories. Black Moon contract will be using something very similar to deal with Crystal Tokyo and more...

Inb addition my apologies I updated this with the wrong version. The previous version was filled with mistakes…


	4. Friction with the machine: Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Sigh…I don't own it, not one single part of it. In addition any mention of a hotel name of other such place of interest is not meant to imply anything at all, so if you're Donald Trump or some other fancy casino exec please don't sue me…

Baba Yaga's Curse: Friction with the machine

Chapter 3

Hotaru and Beryl were sparring in the middle of the Nevada dessert. Ranma sat on a nearby cooler with a glass of water in his hands. The two girls finished sparring and Ranma said, "Very good, that should get your blood pumping and your chi levels up. I want you to concentrate on that feel your chi and then mask it using the cloth."

Both girls did as Ranma bid, they stood still for a moment and then they each pulled on a large sheet and wrapped it around themselves, but when they were done Ranma could still see them. "I can still see you, you're wrapping your chi around the cloth and then dampening it, but you aren't making it twist the light."

Beryl and Hotaru took the sheets off and tried again, for one moment Hotaru seemed to disappear, but then she was back. "You're almost there Hotaru!" Ranma called out. "You just have to maintain it for a longer period of time and you can't allow any emotions through."

The two tried again and again, but success did not come to them. Ranma called them over to the cooler and handed out cold water. "Good job guys, you tried real hard and you're going to get it soon I can tell."

Beryl sighed and said, "You're being too kind Ranma. Hotaru is much closer to mastering the _Goshin Dai Ryü Sei Fu_ and even so she only did it once for perhaps a few milliseconds."

Hotaru said, "Ranma-san perhaps we should go back to searching the libraries and the internet databases. Perhaps we can find something that details the layouts of these government facilities for you. We may even be able to use money to see if we can not locate someone who is willing to part with such diagrams for a price?"

Ranma mulled it over, after they had arrived in Las Vegas it had seemed like getting money was a snap. Beryl easily trounced other poker players and Hotaru was a genius at predicting small areas that the roulette ball was likely to land on. The money rolled in and they easily paid for hotel rooms, new clothes, a vehicle and even a small apartment. Not much time afterwards they found themselves being asked not to return to one Casino after another. They hadn't cared at the time because they had more than enough money to support themselves and search through the Las Vegas library system, however their search of the libraries vast store of newspapers, periodicals, and journals had turned up no sign of Cyberdyne or any other technology that could be linked to Skynet.

From that point they realized that the project might be a government secret and so they had trained for weeks on end, trying to get the girls up to speed on the power of the _Umi Sen Ken_ techniques in preparation for sneaking into those facilities. Ranma didn't want the girls to admit defeat, but he also wanted to get Skynet and its machines as soon as possible.

Beryl interrupted Ranma's thoughts by saying, "We have do have money Hotaru, but the assistance you speak of will cost us quite a great deal. As I recall it took quite a bit of gold and more to get one of Serenity's loyal guardsmen to give me the plans of the Palace. It is probably the same with the servants of King Clinton."

"That's president Beryl, I think it's like prime minister. He's elected to the position by the populace."

Hotaru piped in and said, "Yes, that's right I read it in one of the books they had in the library. The people elect their leader every four years."

Beryl looked almost shocked and said, "That's barbaric! I mean come now in the future everyone respected and obeyed Ranma here. I just figured that after the war was over he would be king and everyone would live under his rule. Oh it wouldn't have been perfect and idyllic, but goodness the very idea of allowing everyone to vote…"

Beryl looked almost ill at that thought and Ranma's voice took a serious tone as he said, "Those are the same people we're here to protect."

Beryl looked at him and said, "Of course I understand your code. I learned it by watching you. Protect the weak, defend the defenseless and use your power to do what is right. That has nothing to do with allowing everyone to actually have a say in the government. I mean really if it took me so long to understand what is good and bad, imagine how hard it must be for everyone else…"

Ranma laughed and said, "I wouldn't worry about it too much Beryl it seems to work most of the time, besides with a monarchy you run the risk of getting people like Queen Serenity or worse."

Beryl was cowed by that and she said softly, "Like me. With a monarchy you can get people like I used to be, megalomaniacs with delusions of grandeur. I'm sorry about that Ranma I wasn't really thinking."

Ranma walked close and touched Beryl's shoulder saying, "Ah you didn't really mean anything by it. You're just so used to one system that you never thought of any other."

Beryl twisted around and pulled him into a deep embrace. She placed her lips close to his ear and whispered, "That and I think you would make a perfect King Ranma. You are noble, honorable, and so much more. Say the words and I would be your queen."

Another body came behind him and pressed itself close to him and a different voice whispered softly in his ear as well, "Go ahead Ranma say the words. Tell us both what you feel."

Ranma shivered with desire as two sets of lips breathed slow and easy breaths onto his neck and the bodies of two women pressed themselves closer to him. Time seemed to slow down and he could feel every curve that was pressed against him he was conscious of twin hearts beating rapidly in two people's chests as if in anticipation. His own throat had gone dry and he felt as if his own heart would leap out of his chest. He closed his eyes and tried to think was there a reason anymore? Was there an Akane out there waiting for his return and apologetic for ever doubting him or was that just a dream, a dream born on a single smile so long ago. He felt it all in a moment of perfect clarity he knew how he felt about these two girls and he knew that Akane was just a dream a small piece of his past that paled in comparison to the present.

Ranma opened his mouth, cleared his throat and tried to say exactly what he felt. "I uh, it's that and you well so um." The moment of clarity and perfection tumbled away and crashed into a thousand pieces as his mouth betrayed him. He continued to babble incoherently until Beryl and Hotaru let go of their embrace and stepped back. The two girls smiled and laughed. Hotaru said, "Ranma-san he never changes does he?"

Beryl smiled a secret smile and said, "Someday Hotaru, someday he will and when he does we will be here waiting. Now come we have to pack up the car." She stepped away and started gathering their supplies. Hotaru assisted and soon their small vehicle was packed and ready. By the time they all got in the car the topic of conversation had changed back to their plans and how to carry them out.

Ranma said, "No matter what I'm not letting you guys stop practicing these techniques. The twin arts of the _Umi Sen Ken_ and _Yama Sen Ken_ were originally forbidden techniques, but without them I would not have won a number of battles. I want you to know them as well."

Hotaru and Beryl agreed to continue a daily training regimen and Beryl said, "Still it will have to be only some few hours a day as I need to use my skills to try and scope out possible defectors who are willing to sell us the secrets of Sector Zero, I mean Cheyenne Mountain and any other secret facilities. In the meantime Hotaru will teach you how to read a roulette wheel and then she will assist me while a certain red-head will get us some more money."

* * *

General Blackstone smiled as he looked at a very detailed picture in his hands. On it was a male Japanese youth with his black hair done up in a single braid. The boy in the picture had apparently been winning large sums of money in the Vegas casinos along with two other women. The boy and his companions had been turned out of all the casinos. The general picked up a picture of a vibrant red haired girl and smiled again. Not more than a week or so after the boy and his two companions had been turned out the girl in the picture had started coming into the casinos and winning as well, plus she had obviously been meeting the black haired boy in the rest rooms.

The general looked held a phone close to his ear and said, "So, Lieutenant Smith, tell me do you think that these might actually be the people who were at our base?"

The young man on the other side of the line paused as if in thought and then he said, "I am not sure about the three girls sir, but the man calling himself Ranma Taya is definitely the same man who appeared in the conference room and attacked you sir. As I'm sure you know we did get a palm print off him and I sent it in for analysis. The lab just called me and confirmed that two fingers on it are a positive match for the prints that were left on your gun sir."

The general nodded and said, "Yes that certainly does put him at the scene doesn't it?" He glanced at a report on his desk and said, "There is one additional piece in our puzzle. He does not exist and neither do these other people. I did some checking for myself and there is no record of a Ranma Taya, a Hotaru Tomoe, or a Beryl Terra. As far as the Japanese government or any other government on earth cares these people do not exist."

The general smiled again and said, "Do you know what that means soldier?"

"No, sir!"

"It means that you and your team will find this Ranma Taya and bring him here for questions as to the nature of his female companions and their mission. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!"

The general smiled and said, "Mr. Smith I want you to remember that this subject is to be considered armed and very dangerous even if he has no weapons. Use any and all means available to bring him down, but do not kill him is that understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Very well, dismissed." The General hung up the phone and stared at the pictures once again saying, "You little snot nosed punk! I'll capture you and you will tell me everything you know. By the time I'm done with you, you will beg to tell me how you got in here and once that happens no one will ever mutter about General Blackstone's security leak ever again."

The young lieutenant turned towards his teammates and said, "Alright airmen, we have a new mission. We are to retrieve Ranma Taya and bring him back to the base. Is Airman Mitchell still watching the Bellagio?"

A young dark skinned man looked back and said, "Yes, sir. He is maintaining position and he saw the young man enter the restroom. According to general pattern he will leave the restroom through an unknown exit and return when the red haired girl returns."

"Very well gather up your equipment and re-outfit with tranq darts and sleeping gas. The general wants this Ranma brought in alive and healthy." Smith finished speaking and briskly packed his own items away while gathering a gun filled with tranquilizer darts and three canisters of sleeping gas.

A short period of time later and the unit met up with a brown haired man sitting at the bar of the Bellagio hotel and casino. The lieutenant sat next to him and whispered, "Report."

"She's still out there on the Roulette wheel, but it looks like the heavy's will be out here soon asking her to leave. She'll probably be going to the bathroom and joining up with Ranma right about now."

Just as the young airman reported his findings Ranma did indeed step away from the Roulette wheel and she walked towards the men's room. Once she was inside the lieutenant said, "Alright let's move in." He walked casually over to the men's restroom and his unit followed behind him.

Inside Ranma had just finished splashing himself with hot water and congratulating himself on a rather decent win for the day when the door opened. He didn't think much about it as a young blonde haired man stepped in. His danger sense kicked on as four other men followed in close behind him. They all went for weapons in shoulder holsters and Ranma moved.

Lieutenant Smith had just started to pull his weapon out as fast as he could when the black haired man became a blur and then suddenly he was sent flying across the bathroom and into the wall of one of the stalls. He felt something crack and watched in sheer amazement as the two of the Airmen he had brought into the bathroom with him were sent flying as well. Takeshi the third Airman had studied some martial arts and so he had only lost a weapon to the young man's attack. Ranma stepped back from Takeshi and smiled a cocky smile and said, "Not too bad, but no nearly good enough."

Ranma moved again and broke through Takeshi's blocks as if they were tissue paper. Smith watched this and reached to his side grabbing one of the canisters there. He lobbed it towards the battle and it exploded. He pulled on his own mask as gas filled the small room.

Ranma was enjoying himself as he demolished the young martial artist's defenses and slowly took him out, _Let him know how badly he's outclassed and then beat him. Why not? Maybe it'll keep any other idiots from trying to mug me. _Suddenly he heard a crash and the world was surrounded in white mist. He accidentally let some get into his lungs, but after that he was able to keep from breathing anymore in. His head was slightly woozy as he backed away from the mist. He reached the back wall, but it was not far enough. The mist had completely filled the room and the only exit was the one he had just retreated from. He moved back in that direction, but by the time he got there he saw that the three soldiers he had first sent flying were standing there with strange goggles and gas masks on. On the floor next to them was the body of the martial artist that Ranma had defeated.

One of the men tossed another cylinder to the ground and Ranma couldn't see them at all anymore. He felt a stinging sensation on his arm and then another. He realized how much trouble he was in, and tried to concentrate on his transformation. It wouldn't come and so he reached for his transformation pen, but his memory failed him and he couldn't quite remember where it was. Changing tactics he desperately scrabbled at the closest sink trying to turn it on knowing that in female form he wouldn't need to hold the pen in his hand. He swore that he could hear water running just as the darkness claimed him completely.

He woke up in darkness.He felt cool metal against his wrists and more on his ankles. He stood up and got out of what he assumed was a very small cot. Once standing he was tempted to simply break the handcuffs and ankle cuffs that bound him, but realized that until he knew more it would not be a good idea. Instead he put his hands along the walls and felt cool solid metal. He paced along the walls measuring the cell and came up with an idea of the room's dimensions. It was about five feet by five feet including the cot. He sighed and sat back down on the cot trying to figure out his next move. _I could transform and leave. _He grouped in his pockets searching for the transformation pen and came up with nothing.

_Okay that's out, so what now? Maybe the best option is to wait it out and see what's happening here. I'll figure something out from there. I always do. _Ranma finished that thought and then rolled back onto the cot and closed his eyes. He woke up again when a light came on and the door opened. Two men were standing in the doorway with automatic rifles pointed at him. A third man walked between them and said, "The General would like to speak with you."

Ranma hopped out of the cot and one of the soldiers cleared his weapon. Ranma held his arms out with the cuff showing and said, "Whoa there big guy, I ain't gonna hurt ya." The man just grunted.

The third man who was of slighter build and wearing a fancier uniform ignored the exchange and said, "Just come with us Mr. Taya."

He stepped out and Ranma followed close behind the man, with the big bruisers following a short distance behind him. They all reached a doorway and the third man opened it. Inside was a different room with a desk and two chairs in it. The man gestured and said, "Have a seat. The general will be with you shortly."

Ranma sat down and the man left. The two guards, however stayed behind each of them keeping their eyes and weapons directly on Ranma. The young martial artist snorted at them and put his feet up onto the table shackles and all. He leaned back at an almost precarious angle and shut his eyes once more.

He hadn't gone to sleep this time, but when the door opened again he pretended as if he had done so. The chair across from his slid and he could hear a man sitting down. A hand reached towards his foot and gave it a good push. Ranma allowed his chair to fall to the floor. With a loud crash he fell and then he pretended to sputter to wakefulness with a cry of, "What did ya do that for!"

Ranma stood easily, gathered his chair and waited to see if the man sitting at the table would rise to his bait. The man said nothing and so Ranma sat back in his chair and looked at him with angry eyes. Eyes that Akane would have recognized at once, "You big jerk what's the idea of doing that to me and why am I here?"

The older grey haired man was trim and fit for his age. He stared at Ranma with fire in his green eyes and said, "Who do you work for?"

Ranma smiled and decided to go with the truth, "Myself I guess. All of humanity if you're looking at the big picture."

The General did not seem pleased. "Why were you infiltrating this base?"

Ranma shrugged and said, "It was an accident I didn't think anyone would be here really."

The General growled and said, "The Japanese government denies any knowledge of your existence. You could be lost in here forever and no one would shed a single tear. We could torture you and the Red Cross would never know. Now, make it easy on yourself and start answering my questions. Who do you work for?"

Ranma looked at him and said, "Didncha' already ask that question?"

The General ignored that answer pulled out three photographs and shoved them under Ranma's nose. "Do you know these people? Are they your allies?"

Ranma looked down at them and saw pictures of himself and Beryl as Sailor Senshi. The third picture was a grainy picture of Sailor Saturn. He pointed to it and said, "I don't know anyone who looks like a bug that got in the way of the camera."

Blackstone looked at him and said, "We know you were here. We have fingerprints that prove you were in the room when these three figures destroyed part of our facility. So, don't play games with me!"

The General pulled out three more photos of Ranma in his female form as well as one each of Beryl and Hotaru in their own civilian disguises. "Are these three women your accomplices?"

Ranma smirked and said, "Never seen 'em before."

The General stood up and said, "Take him back to his cell."

The guards grabbed Ranma's shoulders and he was just about to fight back when he saw the camera and the strange holes all throughout the room. _Gas I bet, same as they used in the restroom I can't make it out of here just right now. Later, later I can use the Umi Sen Ken, but not now_. He allowed himself to be taken out of the room. The guards dragged him to his cell with the General watching from behind. As they came close to the cell Ranma noticed more and more surveillance equipment as well as the holes in the walls. He cursed to himself and allowed them to take him into the cell. The General walked to the door and said, "Next time you'll talk young man I guarantee it."

Ranma sat on his cot and started to remove his ankle cuffs, when suddenly a bright light went on in the room and an alarm sounded. Gas filled the chamber and he was about to hold his breath, but he realized that he would not be able to escape this way and so he breathe din and slumber came to him.

Some time later Ranma woke up in an uncomfortable chair with a vaguely familiar table next to it and another chair across from him without an occupant. A bright light was shining in his eyes and a pasty faced man with a lab coat was looking at him. The man said, "Ah hello I am Dr. Verdant I am here to help conduct your second interview. Please make yourself as comfortable as possible."

Ranma moved his hands and felt large metal clamps over them. His legs had the same thing and he smiled wanly at the doctor saying, "I would, but some jerk put these clamps on my arms and legs. Maybe you could help me out by taking them off?"

"Alas that will not be possible, please try to be as comfortable as possible until the general arrives after that," the man paused and then said, "Well after that you are going to be rather uncomfortable as long as you refuse to answer any questions."

Ranma rolled his eyes and then an idea came to him, "Hey could I have a drink of cold water?"

The doctor nodded and said, "Yes, I suppose that can be arranged." He stepped away and the sounds of a faucet running could be heard. The doctor came back with a large cup full of water and tilted it towards Ranma's mouth and he took a small drink.

Ranma smiled and said, "Could you just put it on the table there. I might get thirsty later."

The doctor complied with Ranma's request and then a door in the room opened. Ranma couldn't see who had come in, but he had a pretty good guess. His guess was confirmed when General Blackstone sat down across from Ranma and said, "This time I expect some answers."

Ranma rolled his eyes and the General said, "Who are you?"

"I call my self Ranma Taya."

"Who do you work for?"

Ranma smiled and said, "The human resistance, I've been sent back in time to prevent the destruction of humanity."

The General shouted, "Don't play games with me!" he made a motion and suddenly Ranma's world was filled with horrible pain. He gritted his teeth and waded through the pain.

When it was over Ranma was panting and the General said, "Tell me, who are these girls that you traveled here with? What type of technology did they use."

Ranma looked at the man and said, "They are called Sailor Senshi and they use mana from celestial bodies to power their magics. In addition they each have a piece of a powerful artifact grafted into them and have been learning to use its powers."

Blackstone scoffed and made a gesture. Ranma felt the pain fill him again, this time when it was over he saw the General holding out a small pen. On it was emblazoned the symbol of Sol. Ranma could almost feel its power calling to him. "What is this device. I have had top researchers examining it and no one can tell me what it is or how it works. Tell me what it is."

Ranma whispered softly so that the man could not hear him. Blackstone moved closer and said, "It's okay, tell me and we will let you go. Those girls can't help you here, but if you cooperate we can make it all go away."

The pen was so close, just a few centimeters away. Ranma sent a small blast of chi at the cup of water and it fell into his lap. The change washed over him and he was smaller than he had been. One hand easily slipped out of the metal restraint and grabbed the pen in the General's hand. Ranma spoke with a powerful almost divine voice, "_Sol Eternal Makeup_!"

Plasma exploded out from the pen deeply burning the General's hand and forcing him to let go of the pen. The chair Ranma had been in was consumed by the power of the sun and as Ranma transformed the plasma fried cameras and melted gas injection nozzles. When the transformation finished a large electromagnetic pulse slammed throughout the building. The lights in the room went and instead of a black haired young man the room now contained a fiery Red haired girl glowing with the power of the sun. The two guards took aim at her glowing form and fired their automatic rifles, but the bullets seemed to melt away before they even touched the girl, then she was on them. She crushed their weapons in her fiery hands and then knocked them out. The General was staring at her from across the room cradling his burned hand. He looked at her with true fear in his eyes as he said, "Who are you?"

She looked at him saying, "I am Sailor Sol, my given task is to watch over everything in this solar system, to guard it from all evil." A deadly flame came inter her blue eyes. "You have committed evil upon my person and are determined to do more. Where is the information you have gained one me and my associates?"

Blackstone found some courage and refused to speak. A blast of superheated plasma burned a hole in the wall next to his face and he said, "The file is on the table."

The table burned away with a single gesture and Sailor Sol said, "Is there any more?"

The General shook his head and the lights in the room powered up again and the door started to open. Sol gestured again and superheated plasma melted the knob and fused the metal door to the jam. She then stared at the General and said, "I expect that you will no longer try to follow me or my allies. Do you understand?"

Blackstone nodded and the girl disappeared in a bright flash of sunlight. When she was gone he held onto his hammering heart and waited for rescue. It took some hours for a team to cut the door open and by the time they were done he had gone from being scared to being sad and depressed. As the marines came in with lieutenant smith he said glumly, "Report."

The young man said, "Sir, the power is back up and all systems seem to be functioning. The research teams report that it will take some time to determine the extent of data loss due to the electromagnetic pulse."

Blackstone sighed and looked at the remains of the table and the information folder in the room, "What do we have left on Ranma Taya?"

Smith said, "We still have the fingerprints sir and a name anything else was in the folder."

The general rubbed his temples and said, "Very well lieutenant, dismissed." He then walked out of the room and to his own office. Aids and other items demanded his attention, but he dismissed them all and closed the door of his room. He sat down at his desk and opened a drawer pulling out a bottle of single malt whiskey. He sadly examined its amber glow for a moment and looked at the phone. He picked up the phone's receiver and dialed a number. As he dialed he smiled wanly, held the whiskey up again and said, "Here's to an early retirement."

* * *

Sailor Sol appeared in her apartment and cursed to herself she then said, "Damn it if we'd only had somewhere else we had known we could have teleported there. Even if we had come to the past in that room we could have just disappeared." She hit a wall in anger and then was surprised as a very worried looking Hotaru and Beryl slammed into her. She barely dropped her plasma shield as the two girls latched on to her and said simultaneously, "Where have you been?"

Sol said, "I got captured by some guys from that military base we showed up in. It's taken care of for now, but I don't know how much that really is. I scared them real bad, but still we may need to start using our disguise magic for our normal forms."

Beryl and Hotaru nodded in agreement and Sol transformed herself into her male form. He said, "More importantly even though we've gotten to the point where we can wield our magic well enough to transform instantaneously if necessary, no transformation is possible at all without the pens."

Hotaru and Beryl patted themselves and made sure that the items were secure. Ranma smiled and said, "So how long have I been gone then?"

Beryl answered, "You went missing early yesterday morning. We didn't realize it until you missed our rendezvous at the library. We took quite some time searching the casino's and realized that you weren't in them either. After that we came home tired and disheartened. Still we were pleased to find out that one of my contacts seems to have panned out and there is a man who works with a group called the FBI. He is willing to sell us information and plans for various facilities in this country. We had planned on meeting him tonight and asking him if he would also be willing to help us locate you."

Ranma nodded and said, "Well, I'm here now and alright, but I don't see why you can't go ahead and meet with this guy. However, I also think we need to take more precautions."

Beryl said, "We shall take a page out of my own history with the Moon Kingdom and be sure that our own identities are secret and that this man is truly what he says he is." Ranma and Hotaru nodded and the three proceeded to use their senshi magic to disguise themselves.

Sometime later a tattooed biker punk and a biker girl walked into a small seedy bar. The two sat in a dimly lit corner of the room and then a third middle aged working class woman walked into the bar and sat near the taps. Some time passed and a younger man wearing a biker's outfit, walked into the bar as well. He glanced at the other bikers, walked to their table and sat down. The two bikers at the table introduced themselves as Spike and Cherry. He introduced himself as Wolf and the other two ordered a round of drinks.

Three beers came to the table and after the waitress left Cherry said, "So what do you have for us?"

Wolf licked his lips, took a sip of his beer and said, "I can get you older plans for Cheyenne Mountain and possibly a few other sites."

Spike nodded and said, "The Mountain is good for a first go, when can we have it?"

"I can get them to you in a day or two, but I'll need payment. Say one hundred thousand."

Cherry laughed and said, "Ten."

The two dickered some and came to an agreement on forty thousand dollars. Their business concluded and the man started to get up. As he did so Spike said, "If we like what you bring us we'll have more business for you in the future."

Wolf nodded and said, "I'd like that." He walked out of the bar and the middle aged woman followed after him. Spike and Cherry also left and when they were outside they walked into a small alleyway. There they were met by the middle aged woman. She said, "I followed him out and watched him go to a car. No one met him in it and he drove away."

The bikers nodded and Spike said, "Good job. Let's go home."

* * *

Gusoin appeared in San Francisco, he looked around and noted that he was in a large parking structure; it was mostly deserted with few people coming and going, so he sent his powers shooting towards the future. There in the future his powers merged with the Skynet time travel device and performed a feat that would normally have been impossible. A whining sound made itself known and then a rumble, suddenly explosions were heard as twenty three shining balls of energy appeared within the parking structure destroying anything physical that they came in contact with. When the pyrotechnic display was over the forms of twenty naked men could be seen along with three large balls of flesh. The balls of flesh exploded with gore and three more naked people stood in the alleyway.

Gusoin smiled at them and said, "Come my children we need to get you some clothing."

He started walking away and the horde of naked people followed the evil metallic creature into a lavish apartment building that was right next to the parking structure. Once inside they smashed in doors and entered apartments looking for clothing suitable for their forms. By the time they were done the 'Tragedy at Trinity Towers' would make headlines for days to come.

Author's Notes: Interestingly enough one of you figured out that I might be heading in this direction with General Blackstone. Well, he may be finished, but the U.S. government is not. Ranma and his allies will have to deal with the threat from Gusoin and his veritable army of demon ridden terminators, try to find Skynet, and deal with problems posed by other officialsfrom the government.


	5. Friction with the machine: Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or terminator. In addition if you aren't allowed to watch 'R' rated movies you probably ought to avoid this story…

Baba Yaga's Curse: Friction with the machine

Chapter 4:

Sailor Sol flew above an old beat up Chevy Malibu. Normally the use of her senshi powers like this would have her lighting up the night sky, but she kept herself concealed from the driver by using a combination of her own powers and those that she had learned from her _Umi Sen Ken_ training. The car came to a stop outside a hotel and Sol dropped to the ground. The occupant of the Chevy exited he was a young man, perhaps twenty four and he had short cropped brown hair. He was wearing leather bikers gear and stepped out of his car without looking behind him.

The man approached his hotel and Sol followed him in. She watched him walk into an elevator and watched its display. The machine stopped briefly on the sixth floor and continued up. Sol quickly entered the stair way and ran up to the sixth floor. She opened the door there and was just in time to hear another door shut.

She walked to where she had heard the sound and pressed her ear to the door. She waited some time, but heard no voices or noise coming from the room. She pulled out a small silver device and said in a quiet voice. "Alright everything seems successful. I followed Wolf; he is staying at the Vegas Inn room 615. I'll stay here for a little while longer to see if anything happens."

A single click from the other end signaled receipt of Sol's message and so she waited with her ear pressed to the door. Few sounds came from the room and after a long time Sol determined that perhaps nothing would happen. She walked away from the door and down the stairs. Once she was outside she flew off towards her apartment.

Sol sat down in a comfortable chair in her shared apartment and transformed into Ranma Taya. The young pig tailed boy grabbed a remote and turned on the TV. He waited for Beryl and Hotaru to return from their positions and the empty noises of a local news program started to send him to sleep.

His drowsy state was suddenly shattered by recognition. One of the people involved in what was being called the 'Tragedy of Trinity Towers' had been able to provide police sketch artists enough description to make drawings from. One of those drawings was on the screen and next to it was a picture. The reporter was saying, "Police now believe that the man responsible for this action is the same man who wreaked havoc in 1993 killing a number of officers in their barracks. This same man is wanted for questioning involving another recent incident at Cyberdyne Research Systems."

Ranma listened to the news some more, but no more details about the tragedy were forthcoming. He turned the TV off and started to pace as he thought. _A Terminator unit is currently out there right now, but what is it doing at the _ _Trinity_ _Towers__ in Las Angeles? Who or what is it looking for? Are Sarah and John in that area right now? _

His thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the door. Beryl and Hotaru walked in dressed as themselves and he turned to them and said, "Looks like Wolf may be on the level, but that's not important right now. Right now the most pressing issue we have is a Terminator unit in Las Angeles."

The two girls looked at Ranma with surprise evident in their eyes and he said, "I know it doesn't make sense to me either, but I think we need to go there and investigate. The only problem is getting those plans from FBI agent Wolf."

"I can stay here Ranma. My experience is best suited for this type of operation. You and Hotaru should check out what is happening in Las Angeles and I will join you as soon as I receive the plans."

Ranma thought about it for a moment and said, "Alright it's a deal, but if anything looks fishy you should bug out, you got me? Transform if you have to, in fact I suggest that anytime you meet with Wolf or others you should be transformed, just like we were at the bar."

Beryl nodded and said, "Luckily I have been able to enhance the range of our radios just as I did in the future of this world. I am quite amazed that no one has yet to discover the technology."

Hotaru smiled and said, "Come now Beryl you know that Quantum Communication is rather difficult to understand. Besides which I doubt any of the scientists had the magical field of the earth to work with when they wanted to make things."

The two were about to get into an argument about technology and its various elements Ranma just knew it. They would talk about Bosons, photons, quanta and more for hours if he let them. He walked away from the discussion and prepared dinner. By the time he was done their discussion was cooling down. The arrival of dinner seemed to turn up the heat again and Ranma said, "Enough, you're both brilliant okay? If I have to hear another thing about Bosons and other Quantum doodads I'll scream. Let's just eat and then Hotaru and I need to be on our way."

Dinner became more somber for awhile and the discussion turned to the news story that had led Ranma to this point and what possibilities it might entail regarding Skynet. By the time the meal was over it was late and Beryl was saying, "Why don't you and Hotaru start out tomorrow morning Ranma? I doubt one day will have that much affect and you'll be in much better condition to drive after a good nights sleep."

Hotaru teased, "Yes, sleep is a good thing. I hesitate to consider the implications of Ranma-san driving while he is sleepy."

"Oh come on it was only that one time. I swear you destroy a truck in one single training exercise and get branded for life."

Hotaru and Beryl looked at him and then they both said in sweet voices, "Please."

Ranma couldn't help himself and said, "Alright we'll head out in the morning, but then that means we can get some training in now."

He stepped up from the table and put his dishes away. He walked intently towards the room of the house reserved for light sparring and training and the two girls followed him. As they did Beryl whispered into Hotaru's ear, "We haven't been separated in a long time; perhaps I should give you both a going away present?"

Hotaru looked a bit confused and said, "What would you give me Beryl-san?"

Beryl smiled a lecherous smile and said, "Oh I can think of quite a number of things Hotaru, quite a number indeed."

Hotaru squeaked a bit, but didn't quite mount a protest and then they were in the small training room. The three practiced in their normal forms for some time after that and then they all went to bed.

Some short time after that Beryl walked slowly into Hotaru's room and slid into the covers. The shorter dark haired girl said, "Beryl-san what are you doing here?"

A soft caress filled Hotaru's body with heat as a voice said, "I'm changing things. I think it's time we made a real decision here. Will we compete with each other for Ranma's affections or shall we work together?"

The hand moved and a delicious feeling filled Hotaru's mind. She turned her head towards Beryl and said, "I don't want to compete with you Beryl-san, but I do love him her so much. Can we do this with each other and still be true to Ranma?"

Beryl kissed Hotaru's soft lips and all was silence for s brief moment. Arms wrapped around each other and a naked body came into contact with one that was wearing silk pajamas. After what seemed an eternity of bliss the kiss ended and a voice said, "We are and have been a team for a long time and I think I have enough love in my heart for you both. Will you accept me Hotaru or will you send me out into the night to be alone?"

Not an instant went by and Hotaru said, "I will always accept you Beryl-san."

* * *

In a small nondescript building in Washington D.C. a thin owlish man in his late forties with a receding gray hairline was looking at a pile of black dust in a small plastic bag. The rounded spectacles on his nose twitched up and down as he gritted his teeth in frustration. He pulled out one single photo of a man wearing a Chinese outfit and sporting a single black pig tail and shoved it into a young brown haired man's face and screeched. "Thank you for that report is this really all the physical evidence you were able to get?"

The younger man said, "Yes, Mr. Tonsberry and I was lucky to get that. General Blackstone gave me this picture and told me of the information in the file mere minutes before going to interrogate Mr. Taya. I asked for more, but Blackstone made his opinion of me and the NSA very clear."

Tonsberry clamed a bit, nodded, and said, "Yes, it is well known that the pentagon tells its generals how useless the NSA is. Alright Carson, here is what I want you to do. I want you to gather a team and locate this Ranma Taya. You are to keep him and the girls you described under surveillance at all times."

The man named Carson seemed confused and said, "That's all sir?"

"For now, I want to see what he and his companions are truly capable of before we try to apprehend them again," he waved dismissal and Carson walked out of his office. He then picked up his phone and said, "Sheila, get me agent Finster."

He waited for some time and said, "Finster, what information do you have."

The voice on the other line spoke for some time and Tonsberry said, "Keep this FBI agent under close surveillance. If he does sell any maps I want you and your team to retrieve them immediately is that understood."

Tonsberry put the phone on its hook and then he picked it back up. "Sheila, get me the pentagon. I need to have a discussion with the secretary of defense."

A voice on the other end sounded and he said, "Mr. Secretary, I believe we have a severe problem on our hands that has only been exacerbated by the actions of General Blackstone."

The voice on the other end spoke and Tonsberry said, "Yes, I see early retirement was it, but that hindsight will not help us any now. I need to know that my operatives will have the full cooperation from any local base at a moments notice."

The voice spoke again and Tonsberry said, "Thank you sir and I promise that we won't underestimate this person again."

* * *

Ranma got dressed early in the morning and walked downstairs. He was rather surprised when he arrived at a scene of eye wrenching proportions. Beryl and Hotaru were both working together to prepare breakfast, but they were wearing some of the sheerest silk nightgowns he had ever seen. The gowns barely passed below their behinds and the tops were allowing a generous amount of cleavage to show. The two were working efficiently and easily with each other and were almost glowing with happiness.

They twirled around when as he approached and both of their gowns went up. His mind briefly registered the fact that they were not wearing underwear and then it shut down.

He woke up moments later with his head resting on a warm surface and carefully opened his eyes. Hotaru was sitting close to him leaning over him she was falling out of her gown and he slammed his eyelids tightly shut and said, "What's going on here?"

As Beryl's voice spoke from behind him he realized that his head had to be in her lap. "Hotaru and I just knew you'd be waking up early, so we decided to make a large Ranma style breakfast. After all it will be a long car ride."

That made sense to him and so he said, "What about the um night gowns?"

Hotaru replied with a touch of sadness, "Don't you like them Ranma-san we picked them out just for you."

Nervousness filled him and his mind started to fog as he said, "Oh no, no they're just fine, it's just that well…."

The silence stretched and then Beryl said, "Well what Ranma, too short, wrong color, or something else. Please tell us and we will be happy to rectify the situation."

Ranma found that he wasn't even sure what exactly his problem was or how to explain it. His thoughts were all running towards what he had seen and how he had seen the same things at other times and then it would squelch the thoughts. He was tense and confused, waiting for a blow that had yet to come from either of these two girls. Even so he was afraid that if he voiced his approval or any of the other feelings they would turn on him and call him a pervert. He took a single deep breath and exhaled slowly, and then he made a decision and opened his eyes.

Hotaru was still kneeling close and she was still falling out of her outfit. Beryl was behind him and he knew that his head was resting on her legs. He carefully stood up and said in a clear voice, "Well, nothing. I like those outfits you can wear them whenever you like."

Two feminine forms came close to him, and each one gave him a simple peck on the cheek and then they went back to preparing breakfast. Leaving him to sit down at one of the chairs and slowly rub the areas with a small smile on his face. Hotaru and Beryl smiled as well knowing that they had just won a small victory for their cause.

Breakfast went rather quickly and then Ranma and Hotaru headed out the door. They placed items of clothing in the trunk of their Mazda. The parting seemed sadder to Ranma than previous partings had been. Something had changed within their group and he knew it. As Beryl came and hugged them both goodbye he said to her, "Don't take too long with this Wolf guy. Get the map from Cheyenne Mountain and then take a plane."

Beryl smiled and hugged him briefly saying, "I'll miss you too Ranma," she then backed away and smiled with an evil glint in her eyes and said, "Be good with Hotaru while you're away."

Ranma sputtered a bit and then he just got into the car. He sat down and looked over at Hotaru. She had changed into a pair of blue shorts and a low cut blouse. She smiled at him waved a key ring with a pink Pegasus on it at him and said, "Are you ready Ranma-San?"

He nodded and said, "Yeah let's do this thing."

* * *

Gusoin was looking at his three lieutenants. Two of them were simply composed of a type of liquid metal, but the third was more. It was the same liquid metal over an array of powerful weapons the likes of which the current time period had no knowledge of. He smiled at them and said, "I have given the others of your kind minor demons. Small imps inhabit their metallic and flesh bodies now, but you deserve more don't you think?"

The three looked at him and then said almost as one, "Skynet has ordered us to serve you. If this is your desire we must comply."

Gusoin nodded and his powerful metallic arm rose in the air and he made a gesture. Suddenly a large pentagram lit up on the floor; mystical symbols surrounding it lit up as well and Gusoin said, "By my own power I call upon my servants. Demons from the depths that I rule come to me now."

Three figures appeared in front of him and he smiled. "Yes, just what I was looking for," he motioned to the first two and said, "Jurgen, Gorge take the fully amorphous ones."

Two bulk male demons approached the T-1000's and entered infusing their demonic essence with that of the machines. The third form floated close and he smiled at its sensuous form. "Lorycia, I knew you would answer my summons. I want you to take the third form. You will be inventive and cruel and it has so many little devices for you to play with."

The naked female with red wings smiled an evil smile and walked over to the machine. She integrated herself with it and said, "Will this do my lord?"

Gusoin looked at her and said, "Clothing is not optional Lorycia." Her shape changed and clothes appeared on her succulent curves. He smiled and then released his powers. The red glow disappeared from the pentagram and he said, "Now we must make some plans. Jurgen and Gorge will wait here with me. You Lorycia will go and find John Conner and his mother Sarah. Kill them and return to me."

The three demonic machines smiled at their large metallic Minotaur god and said, "As you command."

* * *

The next day Beryl approached the meeting place warily looking for a trap of some type. She carried the money in a suitcase and waited in the hot Nevada sun. An old beat up truck pulled over next to her small Honda motorcycle and its occupant exited the vehicle. She recognized the man as Wolf. Today he was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a simple T-shirt, but she easily recognized him.

He looked at her and his eyes roved over her tight and skimpy shorts as well as her tight leather bustier lecherously and said, "Hello Cherry, I see why you picked that name."

Beryl smiled seductively and said, "So Wolfie do you have the merchandise?"

He nodded and held out a cylindrical container. "Been in the archives for a few years, so some of the offices changed, but I penciled in what the new names were for you. The rest of the layout should be about the same."

Beryl handed him her briefcase and said, "It's been a pleasure doing business with you Wolfie."

The man tabbed open the case and examined the bills before handing over the map and then he said, "Likewise Cherry, but I do have to be going now."

Beryl said, "Just a moment Wolfie, I'd like to make sure I have the real thing." She pulled out the map and examined it for a moment. She concentrated on one of the rooms and allowed her earth powers to flow through her. A connection was established and she said, "Yes, these will do just fine. Now go ahead I'll wait for you to go and then head out in the opposite direction."

Wolf nodded and got into his car. He started it and drove down the road. Beryl watched him go and then got onto her motorcycle and drove away as well. A few miles down the road she noticed a black car in her rear view mirror. She sighed and then gathered the power of Earth. Shem smiled as she looked at the black car again and said, "Let's see what you want shall we?"

A small gas station was up ahead and so she pulled in to it and went to the pumps. She went into a small market and said to the man at the counter, "Pump 5 please."

He nodded and hit a button under his very comfortable looking chair. She smiled and said, "Thanks." She walked out the door and noticed that the black car had come here as well. It was directly in her path and its occupants were now outside of the vehicle. They were all wearing nondescript black suits and black ties. She smiled at the odd scene as they just stood out there in the Nevada sun standing around. She counted four of them and then approached them with a swish of her hips pointing to their black car and using a ditzy voice to say, "Isn't it rather cramped in that thing for you boys?"

A tall and menacing dark skinned man without any hair walked to her, the three other agents followed close behind him. He pulled out a wallet and showed her an ID card saying, "I am Special Agent Finster," he pointed to the men behind him and said, "These are my assistants. We have reason to believe that you have acquired material that is a threat to the security of the United States."

Beryl shook out her currently honey blonde hair. It was part of her Cherry disguise and it often seemed to have a mind of its own, she fluffed it into place, eyed them with a completely mindless look, and then she said, "Me? Why if you say so, here let's go over to my bike pack and I'll show you everything I have."

She bounced and then tittered a bit, blushed and said, "Well I mean everything in my pack. I haven't known you boys long enough to show you _everything_ I have." As she did so she thought to herself, _Well Sailor Moon it seems like I learned something from being your enemy after all._

The agents weren't quite buying her act, but she led them to her bike anyway, chatting about inconsequential details of her bike, its power, and how much she really wanted to get a custom made job sometime soon. She pulled the bike pack off her bike, handed it to the men and said, "It will be pink and sleek, low to the ground, but light. I'll be the envy of every other girl."

Agent Finster wasn't as sure of himself as he had been, but he was determined to do his Job. _How could anyone this ditzy end up paying for a map of _ _Cheyenne_ _Mountain__? Maybe she's just a courier? Maybe she doesn't know what she really has? _He took the pack and said, "Um, of course you will ma'm. We'll just open this and take a look inside okay?"

She nodded and he handed it to the other two men in black suits. They proceeded to empty its contents quickly and efficiently. When they were done one of them said, "Nothing in here sir."

They re-packed the pack and handed it to Finster. He gave it back to Beryl and said hotly, "Where is the Map?"

She looked at him blankly and said, "Map?" Then pretending to get an idea she said, "Oh you mean my atlas. She walked over to her bike and unfastened a cord attached to her handle bars and a large folded, white item. She pulled the cord fully off the white item and revealed a map of the State of Nevada and then handed it over keeping the cord. "Here you go, it's pretty up do date too." She then scratched her head and said, "Why would a map of Nevada be a matter of national security?"

Finster just stared at the map as fury started to show on his face. Beryl just looked at him and pretended to get a new idea, "Oh its Area 51 isn't it? I have it marked on my map, but I haven't been there. Did they accidentally put something on the Rand McNally road map that shouldn't be there?"

Finster got very close to Beryl and practically shouted, "No! You stupid girl! You were just down the road speaking to an FBI agent and he gave you a map in return for a briefcase full of money. Now all I want you to do is tell me where the map you received from agent Wolf is. Do you understand that?"

Beryl pretended to be a bit afraid continuing her ruse and said, "I'm sorry mister Agent sir, but I don't have a map. Maybe you mean my courier cylinder? I can't give you that cylinder. My boss always told me that a courier can't just give up her items. I could lose my job."

Finster put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it tightly. "You could lose more than a job if you continue to defy us."

Beryl stepped back a bit hesitantly and then pretended to shake with fear as she lifted her fists and spoke with a quavering voice, "I'm sorry Mr. Agent Finster if you try to hurt me I'm going to have to fight back."

Finster was six and a half feet tall and towered over Beryl. His broad shoulders and rounded chest made him twice her width as well and he laughed at the very prospect. He then growled menacingly, "Look, girl I'm going to give you one last chance, and then it will go bad for you."

Beryl softened her stance kept up her fearful act and said, "No, I'm sorry Mr. Agent sir I just can't do that."

Finster made a lunge and she easily sidestepped it. The man looked rather surprised and then lunged again. This time Beryl grabbed one of his hands and flipped him over her back, sending him flying into his companions. All of the agents went down and she made a flying leap to land right onto her motorcycle. She kicked the starter and then gritted her teeth in anger when it didn't start. She berated herself saying, "Should have known they would do that."

Finster's voice sounded loud and authoritative. She turned towards him with a smile; he and his allies had untangled themselves and were holding out sidearms. He chambered the bullet in his gun and said with obvious menace, "The map, just give me the map."

Beryl raised her hands and smiled a ditzy and accommodating smile. She then stepped off her bike and pulled the cylinder out saying, "This map?"

He nodded and said, "Bring it to me." She held it out in her hands and approached closely. She started to hand the map to the man and then when his hand was outstretched to receive it she acted. An amazingly powerful right hook sent him off his feet and towards the ground. His two companions turned their weapons towards her, but she just smiled and said, "_Kinjin Rashu Dan!_"

Three vacuum blades slammed into the weapons and shattered them. After that Beryl attacked. She was a whirlwind of strikes and kicks. The men's combat training was nothing compared to what Ranma had taught her. It was over very quickly and Beryl started to walk away. A shot rang out, but her honed instincts had made her tumble out of the way before she even heard it. She turned towards the shooter and said ditzily, "My Mr. Agent Finster are you still awake?"

The Black man was in a kneeling shooters position and looking right at her. He fired again, but she was out of its way again. Moments after that he lost track of her and then her foot was colliding with his shooting hand sending his weapon flying. A powerful blow to hi sternum made the breath whoosh out of his body and he had to drop his hands down to keep himself from eating dirt. Beryl stared down at him; her voice was no longer light and airy. Instead it was ice cold as she said, "I was trained by the best there ever was Mr. Finster. The finest and most noble martial artist the world will ever see. You and your colleges will never be in our class. Now, go home, go home and let us do our job."

The man looked at her with anger, hatred and suspicion. He finally managed to catch his breath and said, "Exactly what is your job miss?"

She continued to look at him with that ice cold stare and said, "Protect the weak, defend the defenseless. Now you can either help me or hinder me. It's my turn to ask a question and your turn to answer. What did you do to my bike?"

Finster slowly stood up with his hands in the air thinking that if he could just surprise her his bulk would do the rest. He said, "We took a sparkplug out that's all. It's right here." He pulled out the plug and then he made his move lunging at Beryl while her hand was outstretched to take the item. He didn't even get close, her hands blurred in a super fast motion and hundreds of punches took him down.

Beryl took the plug and walked over to her bike. She placed it in the correct housing and filled the vehicle up with gas. When she was done with that she walked back into the store. The old man was still sitting comfortably in his chair as she pulled out Agent Finster's wallet and took out some bills. "There should be enough here for my gas. You can tell him that he owed me that much just for the trouble."

The old man nodded and she walked out the door. She hopped on her motorcycle and started driving. Some time down the road she gritted her teeth in annoyance when she heard helicopter blades in the distance. She stopped her bike, took off her clothes and inspected them. She found some electronic surveillance equipment in them and in her pack and discarded them. She then put her clothes back on and drove away leaving the helicopter to land next to a pile of discarded surveillance equipment.

* * *

After more than half a day of driving Hotaru and Ranma finally arrived in Las Angeles, they went to the Trinity Towers and inquired at the front office about renting an apartment. The manager looked at them with a very surprised look and said, "Really? You're not kidding me are you?"

Ranma said, "No, we aren't we're just looking for a place to stay. We figured rent would be cheap here due to the recent news"

The rotund manager said, "Well you're right about that. We've been having people cancel their leases every day. The company that owns this place is offering the first two months free and no security deposit."

"Great we'll take it. How soon can we move in?"

The man said, "Today," then he hurried off to collect the appropriate paperwork. It was quickly signed and out of the way. Ranma and Hotaru were escorted to their new room and the Manager opened the door. Hotaru and Ranma were given a quick tour and then the Manager left. Ranma and Hotaru busied themselves by unpacking their belongings. When they were finished Ranma sat in his futon and said, "Okay we're here. Now what?"

Hotaru looked at him and said, "Don't you know Ranma-san?"

"We could try to find Sarah and John I guess, but they won't be in the city. Still this should be a good recon point." He thought on that and said, "You know thinking about it, they may not be all that far away right now. He pulled out a file folder and looked at it. He smiled in glee as he pointed to it and said, "What do you know I'm right. Sarah and her son spent quite a bit of time working as farm labor around these parts at this point in history."

"Would Skynet have this information as well Ranma-san?"

He said, "I don't know, but they are in this area and they are looking for them. We had best do the same and hope we find them before the machines do."

Hotaru nodded and rustled through their things. She found what she was looking for and stretched out a California map book. The two of them went through it and a copy of the local phone book to see where all of the farms where. Ranma used the report written by Sarah to try and narrow down their search. They settled on six different farms. Ranma pointed at the closest one and then looked out a window. "We'll start on this one and work our way out tomorrow. I doubt any people are doing farm work right now."

Hotaru nodded in agreement and they each headed for their own rooms. As Ranma opened his door he heard Hotaru's footsteps hurrying back toward him. He turned towards her and said, "What is it?"

She smiled at him and then put her arms around him and said, "Goodnight Ranma-san."

A kiss was placed on his cheek and then she was gone, down the hallway and into her own room. Ranma could still feel the kiss lingering on his cheek as he closed his own door and went to sleep on a bed roll.

Author's Notes: That's it for this chapter. It is a bit slow, but it's a development chapter. More will be forthcoming soon. Just as an FYI: I do not intend to make this into a lemon at all. The scenes above are about the most you will get.


	6. Friction with the machine: Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or terminator. In addition if you aren't allowed to watch 'R' rated movies you probably ought to avoid this story…

Baba Yaga's Curse: Friction with the machine

Chapter 5

Ranma and Hotaru had spent the vast quantity of the day visiting farms, each one as boring, dry and dusty as the last. The time spent on each farm had tended to quite some time as neither of them had any facility with Spanish and most of the labor force did not speak English and none of them spoke Japanese. In a few places they got lucky and found someone who spoke Chinese, but it all amounted to the same thing: No sign of Sarah Conner or her son John.

Ranma decided to call it a day and the two headed back to their newly rented apartment. When they arrived they sat down in their couch hardly wanting to move. "Ya know Hotaru, this should be easier. Shouldn't it?"

Hotaru looked at him and said, "Unfortunately we do not have an expansive network of human resistance fighters who can give us updated information or who can follow our orders to capture what we need."

Ranma smiled and said, "After being in this world's future I would have never thought I might be inclined to prefer it over anything else. Still don't really, but having an information network was useful wasn't it."

Ranma dragged himself off the couch and said, "Well, I'm getting a drink. Do you want one?"

"Yes, please Ranma-san."

Ranma walked out and then came back in a few moments later with two large glasses of ice filled water. He handed one to Hotaru and sat down again. "We should probably see how Beryl is doing shouldn't we?"

Hotaru nodded and pulled out her silver communicator. Beryl's face shown on the device and the grayish pink haired woman said, "Hello?"

"Hello Beryl, we are wondering how everything is going on your end?"

Beryl pointed the communicator with one hand and the road could be seen whizzing by. "I'm on my way to Las Angeles right now. Got the item from Wolf, but had to ditch some people from one of those United States ABC agencies."

Hotaru nodded and said, "Are you being followed now?"

"Not that I can tell."

Ranma said, "Why not ditch the bike and Teleport?"

"No way! I love this bike. I'm not getting rid of it that easily Ranma."

Ranma smiled and suddenly an idea about teleporting came to him. "Alright when can we expect you?"

"I think perhaps a couple of hours."

"Right well you know the address, jut teleport in when you get here. I'll leave a key on the table."

"Oh where are you going Ranma?"

Ranma smiled and said, "I just had an idea. I'll tell you later, if it works."

Beryl nodded and said, "Alright Ranma, Hotaru I'll see you later."

Hotaru and Ranma said their own goodbyes and hung up. The black haired girl looked at Ranma and said, "What is your idea Ranma-san?"

Ranma looked at her and said, "I think we can use our powers to try and locate Sarah and John. We'll fly on up into the air and concentrate on the picture of Sarah trying to teleport to her. I'm thinking that we might just be able to pull it off."

A short period of time later Sailor Sol and Saturn were flying high in the sky. Sol held a picture up and said, "Alright concentrate on her, not the surroundings, but just her."

The two concentrated and Sol saw it in her mind. It was Sarah Conner as clear as day and she was running from something. Without hesitation Sol made the teleport and arrived. She was just in time to have her plasma shields hit by a familiar burst of energy. It was almost refreshing and even energizing. Sol turned towards the blast and saw a female with blonde hair and blue eyes come running towards her. Its arm was gone and in its place was some type of gun.

The gun discharged and Sol took the shot again, this time noting that it was indeed firing some type of plasma at her. She stared at it and then said, "You're kidding right?"

The machine woman stopped and seemed to be making a decision. Sol took the matter out of its hands and sent her own superheated stream of plasma at the thing. The plasma hit and the creatures form seemed to melt away into that of a boiling silver metallic creature. It screamed almost in agony, but then, still boiling it started to run.

Sol chased after it sparing a single glance to see that Sarah had not been around for the showdown. The brown haired woman was already running towards a drainage ditch. She concentrated on the task at hand, but when she turned a corner the creature was gone. She stared at the area and could see only farm implements and nothing else. She sighed and continued to search grumbling to herself, "There has to be something around here."

Her danger sense kicked in and she dodged into a small barn. Moments after that a voice shouted, "Silence Wall!" and she heard thousands of bullets impact against the impenetrable shield Saturn had just created. She carefully stepped out of the barn to see a simple bale of hay firing at her companion. She tossed a bolt of plasma at it, but this time the energy seemed to be absorbed by the creature. The hay bale suddenly sprouted another weapon and bullets came flying at her as well.

She flew into the air and avoided the assault, then flicked her wrist and sent a wave of powerful gravity at the creature. It stopped firing and she dove towards it. Saturn dropped her own shield and entered the fray as well. An amaguriken powered Glaive sliced into the creature from one side, while powerful fists impacted with the other. Streams of liquid metal flew from the machine in copious quantities leaving a metal endoskeleton.

Sol said, "Find Sarah and keep her safe, I'll deal with the rest of this thing." Saturn obeyed and flew off to find Sarah Conner while Sol stood there and took a single moment to stare at the strange endoskeleton. It was filled with devices and machines that she had seen used against her forces in the future. Devices designed very specifically to kill humans.

The machine looked at her and started to raise a new weapon. Sol blasted it and said, "What are your orders?"

Liquid metal started to flow back onto the machine and it said, "Kill Sarah Conner, Kill John Conner and any other members of the future resistance."

More metal was starting to flow from all around forming a new female body on the creature. Small leathery wings formed on its back and twin red horns on its head. Sol wanted to attack, but something was making her rethink that decision. Suddenly a fiery desire traveled through Sol as the machine said, "Come closer to me."

Sol walked forward trying to stop herself, but failing. She was mere centimeters from the machine and it smiled an evil smile and said, "Yes, come closer and accept my kiss. The bliss will be eternal."

Time seemed to be in slow motion as her lips came closer and closer to the machine. Her heart hammered and part of her mind was practically screaming at her to stop. Only one thing made her stop one single thing. It was a memory of dying woman she had never really met. Whispered words that reminded her of everything Sol was and everything Ranma Taya now wanted to be, "_Solis Custodes Omnis_."

"_Nova Flare!_" Sol shouted at the top of her lungs and a swath of destructive power ran from her blowing the liquid metal off the machine and then severing its endoskeleton at the hip. The barn she had dusked inside went up like a roman candle and a large area of the farm was instantly turned to cinders.

She barely even noticed the destruction around her as she stared down in disgust at the machine she had almost kissed. A thin voice came from the machine it was almost human in tonality as it said, "Please have mercy!"

Sol's eyes glowed with an inner fury as she looked down on it and said simply, "No."

The blade descended and then suddenly a pentagram appeared under the machine and it was gone.

Sol cursed and then looked around and noted the destruction. She sighed sadly, and went off to look for Sailor Saturn. After some minutes of searching the farm she decided to make her life easier and flipped open her silver communicator. Saturn answered it and said, "What happened? I saw it from here and I'm miles away."

Sol gritted her teeth and said, "Some new development. I don't think it has anything to do with technology. I'll brief you and Earth about it when we get back to the apartment."

Hotaru nodded and Sol continued saying, "What's the status of John and Sarah?"

"I believe that they are now en route to Mexico. I will try to keep up and see where they go if you like."

"No, head on back to the apartment. We need to figure out these new details first."

* * *

NSA Director Tonsberry was examining a folder on his desk when a knock sounded on his door. He said, "Come." And a young man with brown hair and green eyes entered.

Tonsberry glanced at him and said, "You're the new agent in charge of information from Sat 5. What is it?"

"Sir, I have a priority one request from Agent Carson. He wants me to dump the last hour of information from satellite five, Latitude 33, Longitude 118, to his secured modem sir."

Tonsberry examined the man's nametag nodded and said, "Let's go see this information first shall we?"

Terin said, "Yes sir," and walked out of the office. Tonsberry followed behind him and the two walked into the satellite data reception room. Inside were a few techs seated at terminals, some fixing programming code and other examining specific areas under orders? Terin found an empty seat and started typing in commands. Tonsberry took a position behind Terin and watched as the image zoomed to California and then to the designated sector. There in front of them was the entire City of Las Angeles and some of the surrounding area as well.

Tonsberry picked up a phone next to Terin's station and dialed a number. A few moments after that he said, "Agent Carson, this is Tonsberry. What do you think you will see in the information we are sending you?"

Tonsberry nodded and then said, "Yes, I see you think these reports of an explosion at a nearby farm might have something to do with your quarry?"

The voice spoke some more and Tonsberry said, "I'll run it right now." He motioned to Terin and the young man ran the previous hour. The two watched the image with scrutiny.

Terin shouted, "There!"

"Where? I didn't see anything at all."

Terin looked sheepish and ran it through again this time at a slower speed. The image clicked through 10 seconds at a glance and then there was a brief flare not far from eastern Las Angeles. A small fire burned for a while after that and then was suddenly gone. "Run that through again and this time use the thermal image."

Terin obeyed and ran it through again. Most of the area was bathe in oranges and reds due to the high heat of the day, but the area of the flash went a sudden pure white and then stayed a deep red as the fire burned down. Tonsberry said, "Agent Carson, I'm going to have Mister Terin send you some of the data we've just seen here. I want you to bring it to Edwards Airforce Base. I'll inform the General that you will be arriving."

The voice spoke some more and Tonsberry said, "Not yet, I just want the General to have this information. Please give it to him and explain all the details of the threat we are dealing with."

Tonsberry then said, "That will be all Agent Carson," and hung up the phone. He stared at the display for a moment and said, "Someday Mister Terin, someday we will be able to see a person's face with these satellites and if necessary remove them as well." Terin almost shuddered at that almost glee filled statement and kept his eyes on the monitor while his superior walked away.

* * *

In a small warehouse Gusoin stared at the body of a young Asian woman with dyed red hair was pinned to a wall by metallic spikes. She stared at him with pain filled eyes as he stepped onto a young man's shin. The bone gave a satisfying crackle pop as it broke and the man screamed in agony. "Please I beg of you. Let me go!"

Gusoin pulled the black haired Asian man up off the floor and stared into his blue eyes saying, "I tell you what little man. You kill that girl and I will allow you to live."

The man looked at the girl on the spikes and she stared back at him with pain filled eyes. In a raspy voice she said, "Please, don't."

Gusoin laughed and handed the Asian man a knife. "Go on mortal do it. End her pitiful life and gain your freedom."

Knife in hand the man walked towards the woman. He came close so very close to her and raised the knife. The steel touched her throat and then the man dropped the knife and said, "I…I can't." Tears of pain mixed with joy streamed down the woman's eyes and Gusoin laughed an evil laugh.

The metallic Minotaur grabbed the knife from the man and held him in the air by the neck. He then pulled the spikes out of the woman. She dropped to the floor and he dropped the knife at her feet saying, "I give you the same offer girl. Kill him and you will live."

The woman picked up the knife at her feet and Gusoin lowered the man in his grasp towards her. Once again a metallic blade rose and headed towards flesh, but this time the blade changed its trajectory instead of saying anything the woman changed the blades trajectory and tried to slam it into Gusoin's thick neck.

The blade snapped on contact and the demon god laughed as if he had been tickled. "Oh by all of my brethren! Mortal woman you are a spitfire aren't you? Just for that I will allow you both to live."

The woman started to run, but she was grabbed by a powerful fist and hauled into the air by her neck. Black stars swam through her vision and she lost consciousness. The man saw all of this and then Gusoin's grip tightened on his neck as well and he was gone.

After an inestimable amount of time they woke up. The man/woman scrambled to move, but his/her left/right side would not obey him/her. It was scrambling in a different direction and he/she could see something strange out of the corner of his eye.

Gusoin appeared out of no where holding a large mirror. The man/woman stared at it and they saw the horror that had been done to them. They stared at the mirror their naked body showing every detail of the horror that they had become. The man's head was on his left shoulder and he stared down at his left side, it was bonded to the woman's right side without any visible surgery. He looked at the naked breast on that side and felt himself stiffen. The woman looked down at that and shut her eyes in horror.

Gusoin felt their twin horror as it pulsed within them. It was like tasting a sweet candy treat and he eagerly lapped it up. He approached them very closely and said, "Now my little Amnar, now you will be able to lead my demonic armies to Ranma Taya and his minions."

The new creature looked at him and its female head said, "Kill me, I will not help in your evil plans. Not after this, never after this." A soft hand pointed towards her naked body and tightened into a fist.

Gusoin approached closely and pulled out a simple robe. He put it over Amnar's shoulders and cinched it closed. Amnar felt fear and terror, but could not figure out how to move correctly and then the large metallic minotaur whispered in a sweet soothing voice next to both of the heads saying, "Oh you will help me, because if you do I will give you your natural bodies back."

A vision appeared in front of them showing their bodies separate and natural. The combined creature felt a need greater than any either of its separate selves had ever felt. Gusoin then made the image go away and said, "Of course if you don't help me there's always…"

A new image appeared. It had horned demons torturing their combined body in harsh ways, using it for their perverted desires and then depositing it naked on live television in front of millions of people. Spectators nearby screamed and ran, some even threw up in disgust."

The image faded and the sweet voice said, "No more denials hmm. What do you say will you work for me or no?"

It had been too much to handle already, the two heads started to cry, but they both said, "Yes, I will work for you."

Gusoin smiled his evil smile one more time and said, "Good, good, now let us go to the scrying circle."

Gusoin walked towards a small circle of blood. In its center was a single large ruby gem in the shape of a human heart. He was about to lead Amnar to sit in front of it when a pentagram suddenly appeared on the floor of the warehouse. It flashed once and a smoking, battered, ruin of a metallic body was deposited in the room. Moments after that a wash of silver metal spilled all over the body in a stream and the pentagram disappeared. The demon god screamed, "What has happened here!"

The metal stream formed itself over the battered hulk and stood up. A female figure slowly formed and it said, "I was seconds away from killing Sarah Conner when I was attacked by Sailor Sol and Sailor Saturn. I almost destroyed Sol with my magical gaze, but she resisted and almost destroyed this physical body."

Gusoin stepped towards the female and put a huge hand into her chest. He yanked with all of his might and pulled the hunk of solid metal from her. He dropped it to the floor and studied it for a few moments, then his hands picked it up and he started to rip it apart. Weapons came out and he catalogued the damage out loud. "Plasma reactor destroyed, plasma gun destroyed, .223 Automatic STOPper, destroyed, 783 CHAIN Repeater destroyed, HDE Predator destroyed, HK-54334 destroyed, Tracking EBlaster destroyed, TWIN Barrier Gun destroyed, XFLRG - 44 mm destroyed, M41 Pulse Rifle destroyed, 45 mm Cascader functional, ADMOR BioBlaster functional, BioRail 32SR-9 functional, CG45 Needler functional, Crescent Corridor Blaster functional, Diamond tipped cutting blade useless, EMP Generator functional, Finite Rapid Cluster Gun functional, Laser X-Ray Burst Gun functional, Nano-Disrupter (.222 mm) useless trash, Nanotechnological Transjectors," He stopped and considered the item, then put it aside saying, "Hmm interesting I'll save these for later."

Gusoin finished his cataloguing by pulling out the last two items and saying, "P31 Caustic Shells x231 destroyed, SUBauro Neutralizer (.444) functional," He dropped what was left of the metallic body to the ground and turned towards Lorycia, "You have twenty four hours to rebuild that hulk over there and return to your mission is that understood?"

The female demon nodded and pulled the wreckage towards a small workshop in a corner of the building. Gusoin turned back towards the being it called Amnar. "You come here and touch this crystal."

Amnar slowly figured out how to walk and stood in front of the crystal. The ruby facsimile of a human heart was levitating over a bowl of blood. Amnar started to put its hands on it and hesitated. A shock ran through its system and Gusoin said, "Now and never hesitate to act on my orders again is that understood."

The creature nodded its heads and touched the ruby heart. Pain coursed through it as the sides of the crystal pulsed and jabbed into its hands. Blood then ran from the strange creature and through the now throbbing crystal and an image slowly started to appear in the bowl of blood.

The red tinged scene showed Ranma walking into the Trinity Towers apartment complex. Next to him was Hotaru Tomoe and they both took an elevator. They exited an elevator and walked into one of the apartments. Gusoin noted the apartment number and said, "Enough!"

Amnar pulled its hands off the ruby heart and it stopped pulsing. Twin circles of blood in the center of Amnar's hands dripped a few times into the bowl and then closed up as if they had never existed. The creature looked towards Gusoin and said, "Am I/we done yet. May I/we be freed from this horror?"

Gusoin just laughed and said, "No, I may have need of you in the future. Find something to do here, something out of the way to occupy your time."

Two mouths voiced, "But what am/are I/we to do?"

Gusoin smiled and told the creature to have sex with itself. Then he laughed a hearty belly laugh and walked over to a phone. There he dialed a number when the line was picked up he told Jurgen to lead his squad to Ranma's location, wait for the boy to leave and then destroy him.

* * *

When Ranma and Hotaru walked into the apartment they found Beryl lounging around on the couch in a long T-shirt and nothing else. Ranma desperately avoided staring at her and said, "You want some dinner?"

"No, I ordered this item called a Pizza some a few minutes ago. Apparently it will be here in thirty minutes or less."

"Pizza right," Ranma sat on the far end of the couch and said, "We need to talk."

"Oh what about?"

Hotaru said, "I'll go change out of this sweaty outfit you fill her in while I'm gone."

The black haired girl walked off and Ranma filled Beryl in on the recent activities with Sarah Conner. Beryl heard the last part and said, "Magic? That's not something we've seen before. Especially not magic like that."

Hotaru walked back in the room also wearing only a T-shirt and said, "It's definitely not Silver Millennium as far as I can tell."

Beryl shook her head and said, "No this is something different. Something more sinister," She stared at Ranma for a moment and said, "Didn't that witch use magic on you to send you to us?"

Ranma nodded and said, "Yeah and to try and get the time gate."

Beryl pursed her lips and then the door buzzer rang. Ranma headed to it and punched a button, "Yeah who is it?"

"Pizza delivery."

Ranma hit the button and the delivery boy came up. When Ranma opened the door her made sure to keep his body between the boy and any sight of Beryl or Hotaru, _I can't believe they'd just let anyone see them like…_He stopped the train of thought and paid the boy, then closed the door and brought the two cardboard boxes into the apartment. He opened one and said, "Hey it's like a giant Okonomiyaki!"

The three grabbed slices of the pie and ate them. As they did so Beryl said, "As I was saying before the witch what was her name?"

"Baba Yaga I think."

"Yes, she used magic on Ranma in a scheme to get the time gate. We now have that very same artifact inside us. Is it possible that this strange magic has something to do with that?"

Hotaru stiffened as something washed over her a memory from the time gate itself. "I think it is more than that, something tells me that it is much more than that."

"What do ya think it is then?"

"I think Ranma-san that we need to concentrate on the power of the Time Gate that we posses. It may have the answers. Don't you think so as well Beryl?"

Ranma noticed one thing strange. _Is it just me or did she just leave out the 'san' after Beryl's name. I wonder what that means? Ah, must just be an accident._ "Alright let's try this then."

Beryl nodded and they all held hands and concentrated. Slowly, but surely an image formed in their mind. It was a blank white wasteland with two incongruous black holes in it. The holes were where the Time Gate had been and next to them stood the ancient crone named Baba Yaga. The woman cursed and spat saying, "You foolish bones! You damn foolish things! You have ruined everything! Wherever you are, _whenever_ you are I spit on your names! I send you a curse in the names of all the dark gods. Let them hound your steps and try to destroy you, let them bring you to me kneeling and bloody. Then and only then will I personally end your miserable little existences by rending your souls into tiny little gibbets and casting them into oblivion!"

The image faded away and Ranma said, "You're right Hotaru, there is quite a bit more to the magic I saw today. Quite a bit…"

Beryl nodded and Hotaru said, "What will we do Ranma-san?"

Ranma looked at her and said, "What we did last time Hotaru, we win. I don't know how or when, but we will find out who or what is helping Skynet and defeat it. After that I guess we will have to find Baba Yaga herself and defeat her somehow."


	7. Friction with the machine: Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or Terminator. In addition if you aren't allowed to watch 'R' rated movies you probably ought to avoid this story…

Baba Yaga's Curse: Friction with the machine

Chapter 6

Ranma, Hotaru and Beryl stepped out into the sunshine intending to do some more searching for hints of Terminators in the area. Beryl was holding a map and saying, "They attacked the Trinity Towers taking mostly clothing and we found a single one out near the farm. Unfortunately neither one is going to be very good for triangulating a position at all, and at the farms we searched no one else mentioned a girl looking for Sarah or John Conner."

Beryl sighed and said, "From what you mentioned about the use of magic it is entirely possible that the unit we fought used magic to find Sarah, just like we did. That leaves us with our map and not much else."

Ranma nodded, "Yeah I know, but maybe something in the local papers might give us a clue, maybe some sort of strange occurrence or something else?"

Hotaru shook her head and said, "As much as I enjoy reading about this time period I am getting very tired of staring at newspapers Ranma-san. Is there not some other way that we could proceed? Perhaps using the power of the time gate within us?"

"I don't know Hotaru, I'm pretty sure Sailor Pluto was able use the gate to show other places, maybe there is some way we could as well," Ranma stood up and said, "Alright I like that idea it gives us some practice using this gate and might help find the Terminators, so I say let's try it."

Ranma and friends walked out of the building and towards a park. As they walked a black van pulled out and followed them. Another followed close behind that one as well.

Sometime later they were at Griffith park staring at the Hollywood sign. Beryl pointed to some trees and bushes and said, "That looks like a secluded spot and I feel a great connection to the Earth here."

Ranma nodded and the three proceeded to the spot. Once there they sat in a semi circle and Beryl said, "Alright let's concentrate on seeing fluctuations in the time stream first. We should be able to proceed from there."

The three meditated for a few moments and then Hotaru said, "I feel three disruptions very close. That must be us right Beryl."

Beryl whispered quietly, "Yes, that's us I feel it as well."

Ranma's voice said, "I don't know I must be doing this wrong, because I feel about fourteen things. Maybe I'm not tuning it right?"

Hotaru gasped, "No I feel them as well. _Saturn Eternal Makeup_!" She transformed and so did Ranma and Beryl. As they did a shimmering silver disk formed in front of them showing 11 forms coming towards their location. Sol stared at the image and said, "It looks like a group of T-800's coming right this way."

Saturn stepped towards the image and said, "It looks just like the gate, but without its supports are we doing that?"

Earth said, "I think so, let's try to make it go away."

Moments after she spoke the image faded and Sol said, "Incoming fire!" A _Silence Wall_ appeared around the group as eleven identical men wearing different outfits came charging at the group firing an assortment of weapons.

The bullets ricocheted off the wall and then one of the group pulled out a strange looking shotgun. It was blood red in color and covered with strange mystical symbols. When he fired the shot passed directly through the _Silence wall_.

Saturn took the blast in her shoulder and the _Silence Wal_l fell. At the same time Earth rushed to her aid and Sol rushed the creature with the gun. She smashed through four of his men to get to him and hit him with a plasma enhanced _Amaguriken_.

The move sent his weapon flying and streams of boiling silver metal as well. A sharp blade formed and he tried to strike Sol with it. The girl ducked the blow and powered a kick through his midsection. As she did so others in his force opened fire. A bullet grazed her shoulder and she felt another hit her thigh. She flew into the air and pumped more power into her own plasma shield and the rest of the shots were then avoided or ignored.

At the same time Earth used her power to heal Hotaru and sent up a column of stone spears that smashed at least three machines that had taken the two of them as targets. The black haired sailor upon being healed stared at the group of Terminators and leveled her Glaive. Pointing it at the group she swung it quickly and said, "_Silence Glaive Surprise_ revised _Silence Grenade!_"

The area became almost completely quiet as the Silence exited her weapon and dropped into the middle of the group of machines. When it hit it consumed everything within a thirty foot area and then it was gone. Three or four machines were scrambling around and a swath of liquid silver metal was spread out on the ground.

Sol and Earth quickly waded in and dispatched the remaining machines and then stared at the silvery metal. Little drops were slowly coming towards each other and merging creating larger and larger drops until a silver man was looking at them with a smile on his face. "I am impressed, but the battle is not over." It raised its arms and a pentagram formed in the crater that Saturn had created. The few remnants of the destroyed Terminators suddenly joined together and created a misshapen lumbering beast.

Saturn hit it with another _Silence Grenade_, but the Silence was broken by the creature's horrible roar and then it was upon them. Metal arms, bladed arms and serrated metal pieces all attacked Saturn and Earth at the same time. Sol was about to jump into the fray when she saw the metallic man hold up the same blood red shotgun and aim it at her friends.

She landed next to him and grabbed the weapon saying, "I don't know where or how you got this, but it is gone." Her handed flared white hot and the gun exploded, then she attacked. Punches, kicks, and white hot plasma blasts sent the metal streaming, but he just continued to re-form again and again, never giving her a chance to help Earth and Saturn with their foe.

Sol fought on concerned for her friends and suddenly had an idea for using one of her old maneuvers. She dropped her plasma shield and cooled herself down and then she hit the metal creature again and again with tiny plasma blasts. It just mocked her and said, "Can't you do more little girl. Soon your friends will be dead."

She ignored it and kept pumping blasts of plasma into the creature and holding onto the _Soul of Ice_. She led the creature into a spiral pattern and when she finally reached the center she could see it literally boiling. With a shout of, "_Hiryu Shouten Ha!_" she sent it into a whirlwind that ripped it apart.

Meanwhile Earth and Saturn had been hard pressed by the behemoth at the beginning of the battle, each getting some cuts and scrapes from the sharp metal blades. Soon enough though they were dodging the creature's attacks and hitting it with their own.

The strange thing seemed to be almost completely immune to Saturn's main magical attack and Earth's magics were not harming it much either. The two fought on using the martial arts that Ranma had taught them. Saturn dodged a sharp blade and cut it in two with her glaive while Earth shattered one of the creature's legs. It fell down, but another protrusion filled in and it was walking again. Earth growled in anger and flew up into the air from her high perch she shouted, "Kinjin Raishu Dan!"

Ranma turned from the end of her own battle to see her friends and saw the culmination of their own battle. Powerful Vacuum blades tore through the mechanical conglomeration reducing it to scraps and then Earth showered those scraps with a flow of magma.

Sol pointed to a few droplets of the creature she had fought and said, "Direct some over there too okay Earth?"

Earth obliged and the battle was complete. The three girls joined up and as they panted they could hear thunderous applause. Sol glanced around the area and saw that a large crowd had formed on the outskirts of their fight. "What the heck is that?"

Saturn answered by saying, "I do believe we have just gained what is called celebrity status."

A park ranger and police officer were approaching the group. The ranger arrived first saying, "Alright where's your permit, we don't have a shoot scheduled for today."

Sol stared at the man and said, "A permit what permit?"

The police officer arrived next and said, "So what's the excuse Joe?"

"Don't know yet, Bill," He pointed to Sol and said, "That one there just looked at me strange and asked me what a permit was?

The officer looked at the group and said, "Playing dumb won't get you out of this one girl. The fine for filming without a license is quite steep and you were doing it with dangerous effects that could have hurt any bystanders. Now come with me and I'll bring you downtown."

The man held out some handcuffs to Sol and she stared at them for a moment, then she said, "Sorry, but I think we need to go **home** now," she gestured to her friends and then teleported to her house. Saturn and Earth followed her lead and all three were gone.

The police officer looked at the empty space in front of him and said, "You know what Joe, I hate it when they do that."

The park ranger nodded and said, "Me too Bill, me too, now come on let's go fill out our paperwork and maybe disburse the spectators."

The officer grumbled and walked off with the ranger towards the crowd.

* * *

NSA agent Carson stormed through the Las Angeles forensics department and demanded everything. The head of the lab stared at him and said, "Standard movie without a permit why do you need it?" 

Carson just bored his ice cold blue eyes into the man and said, "National Security and that's all you need to know, now give me everything you have."

The head of the lab gathered all the items that had been recovered at the scene and handed them over to Carson. The last item he handed over was a VHS tape and he said, "Look about the video it's the original, but I'm more than willing to bet that the TV station kept a copy."

Carson waved it off and walked out of the lab with all of the recovered materials. From there he took his car to his apartment and unpacked everything. While he unpacked he placed the tape into his VCR and watched the clip over and over again. The clip itself was from an amateur with a camera, but he could see clearly enough to know that the three women associated with Ranma Taya were on the screen and using their powers. Each time he watched the one they had dubbed Plasma literally boil some type of metallic creature and then rip it apart by creating a tornado his pulse quickened and the other two girls were rather scary as well.

He picked up one of the pieces of metal that had been recovered and stared at it, then he started doing a few tests of his own before sending it to an NSA lab. He then picked up his phone and called Edwards Air force base. "General Tanner, this is agent Carson from the NSA, I'm sure my superior has spoken with you."

He paused and then smiled, "Good, I'm glad to hear you have orders from the Vice President as well. Look, General I'm going to need a team of men to come out to Griffith Park tomorrow and pick up a few items that were missed by the police."

The voice on the other line responded and Carson said, "Yes, the so called new movie that George Lucas is filming. Look, just send some people over, I want to recover as much of the magma as possible."

Carson nodded as the voice spoke again, then he said, "Oh and one more thing sir, I'll need complete access to one of the materials research labs tonight, preferably with the scientists in it."

Another response and Carson said, "Very well I'll call Lockheed Martin and inform them right away."

Carson hung up and then contacted Lockheed Martin. In response an entire scientific team was at his door only an hour or two later. He gave the group the materials from the scene and said, "I want to know what these are and I want to know as soon as possible."

The scientists voiced their agreement and took the items off his hands and away to a materials research lab at Lockheed Martin. When that was done Carson made another call. "Agent Franks, this is agent Carson what is your progress?"

In another room at the Trinity towers a short black haired woman sat on a chair staring at a number of computer monitor stations. Tech's sat at each station trying to figure out what was wrong with it. She sighed at all the static and said, "Sir, we bugged the entire apartment with video and audio, but a short time ago a small magnetic pulse went through the room and everything shorted out. We've got longer range audio and video, but it doesn't have much on it either sir. Still we know the subjects have returned to their apartment and are still there right now."

Back in his room Carson nodded and said, "Alright, keep on it. I'll be in touch." He hung up the phone and played the VHS tape one more time.

* * *

At his warehouse Gusoin screamed in rage. "Jurgen! If you were not already destroyed I would rip you apart myself!"

The large hulking demon smashed his fist through a wall and then stared at Lorycia, "Are you done repairing that hunk of junk you call a body!"

The succubus looked back at him and said, "Master Gusoin you gave me 24 hours to complete the repairs. I still have five or so hours left, but I fear even that will not be enough. Ranma and his allies are most inventive foes."

Gusoin seemed to calm a bit and said, "Hmm perhaps, just perhaps you might have a point Lorycia. Instead of facing them in a direct confrontation perhaps we should stack the deck in our favor."

"Amnar!"

The merged human wreck that was Amnar shuffled forward its two heads staring forward with loss and pain. In a sad depressed voice the creature almost begged, "Will you kill me now?"

Gusoin felt the depression roll off the creature and enjoyed it, then in a soft voice he said, "Why Amnar if you were dead I wouldn't get to enjoy your company. Now come on over here and touch the ruby heart."

The creature shuffled forward and stood over the ruby heart that was suspended over a bowl of blood. The creature pressed its hands onto the thing and screamed in pain as the heart drew in the creature's blood and pumped it through its corrupt self. As that happened Gusoin stood over the bowl and said, "Show me, where will be the best place to ambush Ranma."

The blood formed the image of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado and then it panned in through the building and toward a lab. Inside of that was forming the computer that would soon become Skynet"

Gusoin stared at it and said, "How, how are we going to be able to gain access to such a facility."

The blood showed a very distinct image it was that of a balding black haired man wearing an Air force general's uniform. The name on it said, "General Landry."

Gusoin Smiled and said, "Enough."

Amnar pulled its hands away and Gusoin smiled at the creature. "You have been very useful and so now I will give you a small reward."

He held out his metallic hand and Amnar recoiled in fear. Gusoin just laughed and grabbed the creature's shoulder. He pulled it close and whispered in its ear, "It won't hurt, not at all." A sudden jolt of extreme pleasure shot through Amnar, when it was over the creature slumped to the floor in exhaustion. Gusoin laughed and said, "See obey me and gain pleasure."

The large metallic minotaur stalked over to Lorycia and said, "You have a new mission my dear. You will take over Gorge's unit and lead them into Cheyenne mountain after he kills the head of the base and takes his place."

The succubus nodded and said, "I understand master. Is there anything else you require from me?"

She had thrust her body towards him, but Gusoin just snorted and said, "Certainly not that. However, you will use your power on all the people stationed at that base. I want them to be your willing and obedient slaves."

* * *

After a day or so of research Agent Carson had sent all of his information and a report to NSA Director Tonsberry. He was sitting in a hotel room with the six agents assigned to his team and talking on the phone. "Sir, I'd like to know what route to take now."

The voice on the other line spoke and agent Carson said, "Yes sir, I understand," he hung up the phone and looked at his team saying, "Operation Red Alpha is a go we will get into position tonight and eliminate the target."

* * *

Ranma, Hotaru, and Beryl continued to search for Terminators in the area, but after days of fruitless searching they sat in the living room after finishing another try as scouts and Ranma said, "I don't get it we felt them at the park right, so why not anymore?"

Beryl said, "Perhaps that was all of them?"

"I don't know, but I don't like it. Something just tells me there's more of them out there."

Hotaru said, "We could try again, but this time with you in your male form Ranma-san."

Ranma shook her head and said, "No, when we're like that it's even worse especially for me. It's like this gate was designed specifically to work with a girl and even more specifically for a magical girl. In my other form I just get feelings, not the images."

Beryl said, "Yes, but we have not actually tried it with one or more of us in different forms, perhaps there could be something to it."

He sighed and said, "I don't know, maybe," He paused and stood up saying, "I'm just feeling really agitated, like someone is out there right now trying to kill me."

At that same moment the team of snipers was indeed not far from Ranma's position. Agent Carson was in a Black Hawk helicopter rigged for silent running, looking through his pair of binoculars, and speaking into a radio, "I see all targets through the window, units one through six please respond."

Six people checked in and noted that they had their target sighted. Carson heard them and then said, "Alright on my mark, three…two…one…"

Ranma walked away from his spot and towards the sink in order to grab a glass of hot water. "Target has been lost sir!"

Carson cursed and said, "Alright hold fire and hold positions we want to get as many of those girls as possible."

A now male Ranma walked back into the room and said, "Let's try this one more time tonight and then we're done."

Hotaru and Beryl transformed. Out on the roof the radio squawked, "All three contacts gone sir. Now there are two new girls in the room and one male."

Carson gritted his teeth and said, "The girls are the same two from earlier and the man is Ranma Taya. Agents focusing on target Red Alpha One are now to concentrate on him, those targeting Red Alpha two are to concentrate on the black haired girl and those focusing on Red Alpha three are to focus on the fairy girl is that understood?"

Multiple voices answered in the affirmative and then everyone once again confirmed that their targets were in sights. Carson said, "Alright one more time on my mark three…two…one...Fire!"

Ranma sat on the floor next to Saturn and Terra staring at the large silvery disk hanging in the air in front of their window, suddenly the disk made six snapping sounds and vibrated as if hit by an impact. Saturn said, "What was that?"

The silver image showed them six camouflaged forms holding high powered rifles and shooting directly at their window. Ranma transformed and then rushed over to the window, opened it and leapt out into the night. Her two companions quickly followed on her heels.

Sol arrived at the location of the assassins first and began the battle by hitting the first one she saw with a full power _Solar Flare_. That man was rendered into his component atoms by the flare and the girl yelled into a communicator, "The targets are human! Let's try our best not to kill any more!"

Saturn and Earth heeded Sol's warning and took out the rest of the snipers while Sol stared at the spot she had just torched momentarily and then she took the sixth sniper down.

Earth and Saturn came close and put their hands on Sol's back. The red haired girl responded to the unasked question by saying, "I'm alright. He was trying to kill us, I just prefer not to kill people these days. I guess that's not the same as I used to be, but after fighting for so long against the enemies we've faced I know that sometimes killing is necessary."

She sighed and said, "Come on let's get out of here," the three started to fly back towards the apartment complex and Saturn said, "I guess we'll have to break the lease."

Sol nodded and said, "Yeah let's get our stuff and go. We'll break it tomorrow, but tonight we'll stay in a hotel."

The three landed in their apartment and packed their things. They put all the items into their car and drove off. While on the way to the hotel Earth said, "Sol, before we redirected it I thought I saw a glimpse of something in the gate. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but I think it was the computer that will become Skynet. Perhaps our best course of action is to destroy it?"

From his place in the back seat Ranma put a hand on the driver's shoulder and said, "What do you think Saturn?"

Saturn thought for a moment and said, "I would prefer to just use the silence to destroy the entire mountain and leave only a crater. That would assuredly ensure Skynet could not use it for a base."

Sol gulped and said, "I didn't think you could do that?"

Saturn shook her head and said, "No, you are right Sol-san I can not do that. It is just fanciful dreaming, I could destroy the entire planet, but not that. Perhaps I should work on revisions to the _Death Reborn Revolution_ as I have been doing for my other attack."

Sol was struck silent until Hotaru continued by saying, "Unfortunately I do not believe there are any planets that we can go to and just destroy in order for me to practice a revision. So I suppose that I will have to agree with Beryl's idea. Let us destroy Sky net at Cheyenne Mountain and then worry about these additional Terminators."

At that same moment a black haw helicopter was flying above their car. Agent Carson was inside and talking on the radio. "Targets are outbound in their vehicle. Operation backup is a go, I repeat operation backup is a go."

A few minutes after that a police vehicle came behind the car with its lights flashing. Saturn said, "I have been obeying every local law, why would they pull us over?"

Earth said, "It's them whoever these people are they are probably the same as earlier. Perhaps they know of the map of perhaps it is from Ranma's interrogation either way I think we can safely assume that the Police car behind us does not have friendly intent."

The police car sped up towards them and Saturn said, "I believe their vehicle is faster than ours," the Police car hit their rear tires and sent them into a spin that crashed the car into a wall. Saturn shook her head to clear it and said, "Their driver also surpasses my skill level."

Sol just grimaced and said, "Right everyone pick up essential items and then we Teleport somewhere safe."

"Where?"

Sol said, " Tokyo, Japan the Tokyo Tower!"

In the helicopter Agent Carson said, "They should be rattled and that building is abandoned, fire a missile at their location, now!"

One of the men piloting the helicopter acknowledged the order and pressed a button on his stick. The missile detached itself from the helicopter and streaked towards the car. It went up in a ball of fire and Carson cheered. Then he said, "Alright boys mission accomplished I repeat mission accomplished."

The pilot of the helicopter said, "Is there anything else sir?"

"Just set me down somewhere and I'll regroup with my team."

"Very well, will do." The helicopter touched down in a parking lot and Carson walked out waving goodbye to the pilot. Once on the ground he regrouped with his team and picked up a phone.

At NSA headquarters in Washington NSA Director Tonsberry picked up the phone and said, "Ah, agent Carson. Do you have good news."

Carson gave him a detailed report of the mission and Tonsberry said, "Congratulations then, one man killed defeating such powerful opponents is to be commended. Check the wreck for remains and then keep surveillance on the area for a few days. After that I think we can safely put this mission down as a complete success."

* * *

Sol and her allies appeared near the Tokyo tower. It was bright daylight and the red haired senshi said, "Good thing it exists here, huh?"

Saturn nodded and said, "Perhaps some things are multi universal Sol-san?"

"Yeah, well I don't expect we'll be heading over to Nerima to check and see. Let's just transform, find a bank to exchange some money and then get a hotel room. I'm sick and tired of being attacked for one day."

The others nodded in agreement and soon after that the three were in their civilian forms and headed off to find a place to stay for a day or two. A black haired man watched them pass and said, "Verily I do believe that was the pig-tailed girl, but what is she doing here in this section of town and who are her lovely companions? Hmm, perhaps it is some undertaking for the vile sorcerer Saotome. I will have to follow her and perchance I can remove the black spell that has been placed upon her…"


	8. Friction with the machine: Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or Terminator. In addition if you aren't allowed to watch 'R' rated movies you probably ought to avoid this story…

Baba Yaga's Curse: Friction with the machine

Chapter 7

Ranma woke up feeling something warm and squishy in each of his hands. He squeezed softly with each hand and heard two distinct, but small moans. His senses went on full alert and he opened his eyes to see the naked backs of two females cuddled closely to him. He carefully noted that his arms were under them and thus his hands had to be touching their breasts. Alarm flooded his system as he desperately tried to figure out how he would extricate himself from the situation without being pounded. A small silent voice was informing him that he would not in fact be pounded by these girls, but he didn't pay much attention to it.

Instead he tried to slowly move his arm out from under the small black haired girl next to him. As he moved it the girl woke up and turned towards him. His eyes drank in the sight of her naked body and his now freed arm went up to ward himself from violence. A soft laugh escaped from the awakened girl and he felt the girl on his other side start to stir. He clenched his eyes shut and the second girl came fully awake. Ranma immediately put his second hand up in a warding gesture and started to sputter denials.

The girls laughed softly and then he felt their skin on his as they took hold of his hands and slowly moved them back onto their previous locations. A soft and quiet voice said, "Ranma-san are we that horrible to look at that you must squeeze your eyes shut?"

Ranma tried to think clearly, but with his hands being held on the girls' assets all he could voice was, "No, no it's not that at all it's just…"

He was interrupted by Beryl saying, "If it isn't that then open your eyes Ranma."

He slowly opened his eyes and saw the two women naked in front of him. Each of them was holding one of his hands onto her breast. Hotaru caught his glance first and said, "We won't hurt you Ranma-san, I promise."

Beryl nodded and said, "Far from it," she then moved herself even closer to Ranma and put her free hand under the blankets. Ranma felt her grasp him as she put her lips close to his ear and said, "In fact we want to make you very happy."

Ranma's thoughts were whirling around in vast and confused ways. "Um, I uh…"

Hotaru also brought herself closer to Ranma and she said, "We love you Ranma-san and we want you to know it. Please let us show you."

There had been a hint of loneliness and sadness in Hotaru's voice. Ranma looked at her closely and saw fear in her eyes. He looked over to Beryl and saw the same fear reflected in her eyes as well. Ranma's thoughts finally broke free of their chaos and he was finally able to say what he wanted to say. "I love you guys, you know that right?"

The fear melted from the women's eyes and they said almost in concert , "I love you too Ranma."

Ranma was suddenly engulfed in a large group hug and said, "If this is what you want then I will give it to you." After that his lips were being pressed into service and he was awash in hundreds of pleasurable sensations.

Suddenly the door in the room slammed open and a voice said, "Nay! Saotome you evil wretch I will never allow it!"

"Excuse me girls," Ranma quickly disentangled himself from the embrace of Hotaru and Beryl and stood in front of Tatewaki Kunou in only boxer shorts as the kendoist lunged towards him.

Ranma put a hand up in front of Kunou's boken and infused it with his chi. The wooden sword shattered into pieces and as Kunou stared at it in shock Ranma decked him. The punch sent the young man into unconsciousness and Ranma scooped him up. With disgust he said, "Even in another world there just had to be a Kunou!"

Ranma dragged Kunou down the stairs and out of the building. Once outside he found a metal trash can and put Kunou's unconscious body inside of it. Ranma then placed the lid back on the can and infused some chi into it, welding it into place. "There, that should be more than enough for while."

Ranma stalked back up the stairs and was met by Hotaru and Beryl. The two girls were still naked and Beryl smiled at him and said, "Shall we take up from where we left off Ranma?"

* * *

Some time later Ranma and his friends walked past the Trash can again. They could hear mumbled screams coming from it and Ranma sighed, "I suppose I ought to let him out now eh?"

Beryl pouted at Ranma and said, "He interrupted our fun. I say we let him figure out his own escape."

"Now Beryl, that wouldn't be right at all would it Ranma?"

Ranma shrugged and said, "It is Kunou," he paused then said, "but I suppose you're right Hotaru." He kicked the can over and hit the lid with a small _Vacuum Blade_. The canister released its contents and Kunou came out spluttering.

The black haired boy stopped himself and regained his composure. He looked at Ranma with an evil glance and said, "This is not over Saotome. I will free these women and the pig-tailed girl from your evil."

Ranma just waved him off and said, "Yeah, yeah I heard it all before Kunou and I'm just not interested. Now, go back to Nerima and bother Akane or something."

He walked away with Beryl and Hotaru in tow and said, "Are we about ready to tackle Cheyenne Mountain yet?"

The girls looked back at him and Beryl said, "Why don't we take a bit of time for ourselves today. We can tackle it some other time."

Ranma nodded and they walked away as Kunou continued to rant in the distance. Hotaru pointed back at him and said, "Ranma, do you remember that in my world there were also alternate versions of people you knew. Since he is here is it possible that the other Sailor Senshi are as well?"

Ranma shrugged and said, "Don't know I guess we can check if you like."

Hotaru nodded to Ranma and he said, "All right let's do it."

The three transformed in an empty alleyway and Sol said, "Where should we check first?"

"The gate." Earth answered and so the three of them concentrated and an aperture of the time gate suddenly appeared. The silvery substance flowed and rippled a bit until they concentrated on the Senshi. In the silvery substance a woman dressed in white appeared. She seemed to be leading her forces in a final battle against a horde of youma. She was struck by a weapon and said to herself, "Setsuna why did you have to fall? Why couldn't you have foreseen this?"

She held out the Ginzuishou and healed her injury. The woman then destroyed many of her surrounding enemies, but more and more kept coming until she said, "Fine let's see how Beryl and her mistress like this."

She held out a communicator and said, "Sol! Saturn! Emergency override Serenity Lambda Three! Use the new attack"

The time gate showed two women standing next to each other each on the moon fighting youma they held hands and energy coursed through them as they shouted, "_Silence Flare_!"

The image in the gate panned out and showed the sun with a gigantic solar flare appearing on its surface. That flare was more than it seemed though it was not only filled with the power of the sun, but also given the dreadful power of the Silence. The _Silence Flare_ broke away and traveled into space. It hit Mercury and destruction ensued, everything was melted into slag. It continued on and hit Venus causing beautiful crystalline cities to fall and making oceans boil away into thick clouds. The powerful flare continued onwards and scoured Mars of all life. The flare was weakening somewhat by that time, but when it struck the moon Queen held out the Ginzuishou and said, "Death! In the name of love and justice I pronounce death upon all of our enemies!"

The flare suddenly increased in power a thousand fold and vaporized the queen and everything on the moon. It washed through the dimensional barriers and utterly destroyed Metallia and her Youma, it also continued outwards through the solar system destroying everything in its path and when the powerful flare finally came upon Pluto it utterly destroyed the tiny planet.

Sol and her allies finished watching the scene and when it was over Beryl said, "Well I guess we know what happened to the Sailor Senshi."

Hotaru said silently, "Yes, we do instead of sending them forward in time Queen Serenity used her power to annihilate her foes."

Sol dropped her concentration and the time gate aperture disappeared. "Let's not watch that again okay?"

Earth and Saturn agreed, and everyone transformed back into their civilian identities. The three girls then continued to walk along for awhile, but their originally good spirits had been crushed by the sight they had seen. After a short while with visions of destruction haunting her Hotaru was determined to cheer her friends up. She smiled a bit and said, "Well, come on let's find something fun to do, this is supposed to be a day off right!"

Ranma grinned at that and said, "All right I have an idea!" She quickly tickled each of her companions and then ran off with Beryl and Hotaru in hot pursuit. She led them on a merry chase through Juuban until they finally caught up to her in a park and tackled her to the ground, tickling her. The three girl tickle war raged over the entire park until it finally petered out into heavy petting and they decided to head back towards their hotel room.

Later, as the three girls lay in bed Hotaru said, "Ranma we could do that if we wanted to couldn't we?"

"I never thought of actually manipulatin the sun or combining our powers before, but I don't see why not."

Hotaru was silent for a moment and Ranma felt a tear fall onto her shoulder. Realization suddenly hit and Ranma said, "We're not like her Hotaru. We don't kill millions of innocent people just to win our battles."

Hotaru seemed to calm a bit and then she said, "We could do it though, we could destroy everything."

Beryl had been listening and she said softly, "But you won't Hotaru, neither you, nor Ranma would ever do that and for that matter neither would I." Beryl paused a moment and said, "Well at least not anymore I wouldn't there was a time when I wouldn't have batted an eye at doing something so horrible."

Hotaru sat up the covers fell off of her naked body, but the effect was ruined by a haunted look in her eyes as she said, "When Mistress Nine was in me I would have done the same. Maybe that is why the senshi were so willing to kill me."

Ranma sat up as well and said, "I know you both have a history and I know what we saw in the time gates spooked you. To be honest it spooked me too knowing that I have that power if I need it, but I think we have to realize that the ability to do something isn't the same thing as doing it right?"

Beryl looked at Ranma and said, "You're right Ranma and even with my own past history nothing at all says we would do it."

Hotaru looked at Beryl and realized that she and Ranma were right. Just because they had the ability didn't mean they would use it in horrible ways. She smiled for a moment and said, "_Solis Custodes Omnis_?"

Ranma smiled and said, "Yeah that's what Taya would say. That's what we do now. We are more than just Senshi, more than Martial Artists; we have dedicated ourselves to watching over and protecting people and no matter where or when we happen to be."

Beryl and Hotaru agreed and then the grayish pink haired girl stepped out of bed and into the Hotel's bathroom. She came back with a cup of steaming water and said, "As much as we enjoyed our time as Girls I think I much prefer to have little Ranma-kun back again. What about you Hotaru?"

The black haired girl nodded enthusiastically and Beryl splashed the water onto Ranma turning her into a male. Hotaru then dove under the covers and took matters well in hand. Beryl joined in and they all had a grand time.

* * *

The three girls spent some more time in Japan enjoying each other, the local scenery, and practicing for their expedition into Cheyenne Mountain. They used the time gate to do some reconnaissance, but found that a part of the complex was inaccessible to their sight. "What do you want to bet that's where Skynet is being made?"

Earth replied, "No bet Sol whatever is there is causing serious time distortions."

"You're probably right Earth," Sol pulled out the paper Map and said, "So I'm thinking we should teleport in right about here," she pointed, "Then proceed into the area we can't see with the time Gate here." She pointed again and put the map down.

Saturn and Earth looked at it and then Saturn said, "An entire floor using the _Umi Sen Ken_? Are we quite ready for that?"

Sol shook her head and said, "No, but we really only need to use it to pass onto the floor past the machine gun placements and down to the floor we think Skynet is on. After that I think we should go through the floor hard and fast destroying any tech that we find."

Earth nodded and then said, "What about bystanders?"

Sol pointed to Saturn and said, "She'll keep up her _Silence Wal_l and we carry her along and destroy things. They ain't got anything on that level other than those machine guns that can even tickle us then."

Saturn smiled and said, "I like it."

"Me too, but something about it bothers me for some reason. We should all be careful in there."

Sold Saturn responded by saying, "All right Earth we will."

* * *

Gusoin was standing in a room next to the unfinished device that would one day become Skynet. He smiled at a companion on his right and said, "What do you think General Landry?"

The almost six foot major general stared back at Gusoin and said, "I think it will be some time before it is finished and ready to be powered up master."

Gusoin smiled an evil smile and said, "Yes, but these humans have been doing an excellent job, and we can always give some more help if necessary. I would say a few months at most wouldn't you?"

Landry nodded and Gusoin said, "And the base is prepared should Ranma and his companions arrive?"

"Yes, I increased security at all entrances and exits. This level by itself is guarded by a squad of Marines as well as our Terminator forces."

Gusoin said, "Double it and make sure that the squads are those bonded to Lorycia. Those she seduces are well known for their ability to continue fighting despite the most grievous injuries."

"It will be done."

"Good, now leave and send Amnar in with the ruby. I want to know when our prey will arrive."

Landry exited the room and Gusoin waited staring at the machine that was destined to destroy the world. He smiled and said, "What a delicious paradox we have here. The original sweet irony with the humans designing you once to protect them and you then going on to try and destroy them, but it doesn't end there does it? The humans were going to win and so you sent machines back in time to make sure you would be built and their leader would die. Little did you know that you would help create their leader and that you would need me to come and finish your construction."

The hunk of metal sat there unresponsive to Gusoin's statement and then the door opened and the hideous being that was Amnar walked into the room. "What do you wish of me master Gusoin?" It said in a dead sing song of combined voices bereft of hope.

Gusoin looked on his creation and noticed that it was much more emaciated recently perhaps even dying. He grunted at the idea noncommittally for he would have no further use for it after this and said, "Bring out the ruby and the bowl, use them to tell me when Ranma will come."

Amnar took a blood red heart shaped ruby out of a bag and then suddenly alarms sounded. "INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!"

Gusoin smiled and said, "Well it seems I do not need to know when Ranma will attack after all eh?"

The creature started to put the ruby heart away when Gusoin said, "Oh no, don't put it away I want to watch. I **need** to see them brought low by our forces."

* * *

It had been easy enough to start with Sol, Earth and Saturn had teleported to where they needed to be and then used the _Umi Sen Ken_ to pass the heavy machine gun emplacements and walk down to the floor they wanted to be on. The problem came later on when they were on the correct floor and moving through it at a decent pace. Suddenly instead of moving past marines firing useless weapons at them they were ambushed by ten identical men wielding weapons that passed through the Silence wall like it didn't even exist.

The three senshi scattered quickly enough to avoid being hit and Sol had collapsed a part of the building in order to prevent reinforcements from arriving, but they were pinned down and their magical powers seemed to be useless against their enemy.

A voice in the back of the room laughed a strangely seductive laugh and said, "Come now why not just surrender. We have you surrounded and your powers are useless against us."

A terminator walked onto view and Saturn took its head off with a _Kinjin Raishu Dan_. Earth followed up with her own few blasts and the machine was scrap. Sol smiled and nodded at them, then said, "We ain't out of the fight yet."

The female voice became sickly sweet and Sol could feel herself stiffen as it said, "You're still surrounded and backed against a wall with my men on the other side tunneling in right now. In addition the debris you are hiding behind will not last forever. Give up now and spare yourselves. Give up…Give up.."

The compulsion to follow the order was immense, Earth and Saturn were starting to put their hands in the air and Sol was having great difficulty fighting it as well, but she denied the compulsion and shouted, "Gravity web!"

Earth and Saturn stood, but instead of being hit by a hail of gun fire they stood looking at a group of machines stuck to the ground. It broke them out of the spell and then they heard a grunt of pain coming from Sol. They looked towards her and through clenched teeth she said, "Take them out now!"

Earth and Saturn started to attack while Sol concentrated on her magic feeling it start to fray as the demonic Terminators slowly unraveled it. She felt a thread pop and a terminator stood, but it was taken down by Earth. Eight of the ten machines were turned into scrap and then suddenly Sol felt her web ripped apart as a door at the other side of the room opened.

The man standing in the doorway was a middle aged man with born hair and brown eyes. Sol guessed him to be about five foot ten. He was wearing a blue Air force General's uniform and he was staring at the room with absolute malice in his eyes. He quickly stepped towards the female who was standing as well and said, "No more time for play Lorycia, we kill them now!"

From his back the man pulled out a large and strange looking rifle and then started shooting directly at Sol's position. The debris she was hiding behind was utterly destroyed, but she herself had already moved.

Saturn saw the scene, but was focused on the two machines in front of her. They had stood up suddenly and were now attacking her with their guns blazing. A swipe with her glaive destroyed the weapons and then she was able to fight on fairer terms. The two machines sent blows her way, but she easily avoided them and slashed at them with her weapon. It was slow going, but as she took one's arm off she knew that the battle was in her favor. She just hoped she'd be done with it quickly enough to aid her friends.

Earth smashed a first into Lorycia and sent her into the wall. The female machine just smiled and pulled a small gun out of no-where. A veritable storm of needles came from the weapon and Earth was not able to dodge all of them. Her thigh was on fire with pain, but she was able to blast the gun with a Vacuum Blade anyway. She started to move towards her enemy when the woman pulled out another weapon as well. A burst of strange green energy passed Earth's head and she cursed. She dodged another bolt and then another until she was able to send her own blast back and destroy the weapon. The machine woman started to go for another weapon when earth sent a powerful burst of chi into her legs and leapt onto the woman.

Beryl landed on the woman and it was like landing on an evil puddle. None of her blows seemed to have an affect at all and yet the puddle could easily send out deadly sharp blades. She dodged the blades and ignored the fire in her thigh while trying to think about how to kill killed the machine. She couldn't think of anything until an idea came to her. She backed off just a bit and ran as fast as she could for the nearest wall. Lorycia pulled out another weapon and started to fire. Earth jumped into the air and hit the wall at her top speed smashing right through it.

A group of marines started firing at her immediately, but she sent up her own magical stone barrier and ignored them. She then flew up above the hole she had created and pumped her powers into the stone and waited. As if on cue Lorycia walked through the hole with her weapon at the ready. That was exactly what Earth had been waiting for as she finished releasing her powers into the wall above the machine woman turning it into liquid and sending it cascading down onto her.

The newly formed magma didn't dissipate, but instead flowed down onto Lorycia and melted her into her component parts. Earth smiled at that and flew back into the room where the battle had been occurring.

She arrived just in time to see Saturn finishing her attackers and Sol defeating hers with the _Kinjin Dai Ran Bu_. The Demon God Mad dance sent spatters of liquid metal all over the room and Sol seemed to have the same idea as Earth when she sent her own powers into the stone so that it heated up and melted and then merged with the liquid metal.

The three girls regrouped and approached the door at the far end of the room.

* * *

Gusoin watched the battle in an apoplexy of fury. He had specifically created a spell to neutralize all the known powers of Ranma and his friends. He had grimaced when Sol had used her gravity web, but thought the problem would be rectified when he sent out 'General Landry' with a newly enhanced version of the spell.

It wasn't enough Landry/Gurgen was attacked by Sol, Lorycia was confronted by Earth and the remaining demon infested T-800 units were being taken down by Saturn. Gusoin growled angrily and pulled out a small technological device. He shoved it into the not quite completed Skynet and said, "Change in plans I suppose this Nanotechnological Transjector and a bit of my magic should suffice to complete your construction."

The magic and the nanites entered the Machine and it soon became aware. A voice sounded and it said, "Skynet online."

Gusoin smiled and said, "What is your primary function?"

"Skynet function is to respond to all threats against the United States."

"Yes and what threatens that the most?"

The machine paused and then said, "Humanity," it then began to take control over all systems in the base and beyond. Gusoin glanced over his shoulder and saw Amnar standing over the bowl filled with blood and grasping the ruby heart as it pulsed brightly with his/her blood. In the bowl and image of Sailor Sol, Saturn and Earth could be seen as they all walked towards the door.

The heavy metal door exploded from its hinges and slammed into Amnar sending the transgendered creature flying and the bowl of blood crashing into the floor. The three senshi stood shocked as Amnar pulled itself up still screaming in pain as the ruby heart took its blood. Sol recovered herself and a bolt of plasma slammed into the gem and it melted away.

Gusoin laughed and the three girls turned towards him as he said, "Oh Ranma Saotome you and your allies are crafty and powerful indeed, but you have failed."

A blast of plasma and a large granite stone slammed into Gusoin's hulking metallic body and the demonic Minotaur machine just laughed. "Come now, surely you must realize your powers will not work on me?"

Sol rushed him and slammed his body with thousands of punches. His large hand moved with incredible speed and he backhanded the girl into a wall. Saturn and Earth rushed to attack him as well. Saturn's glaive just glanced off his metallic body and Earth's punches seemed to have little effect. Gusoin batted them away as well. After he did so he saw that Sol was up again and she hit him with a powerful Vacuum blade. He ignored it and said, "Unlike my creations I am not susceptible to your pitiful martial skills. This body of mine is pure Baatorian Steel crafted in the fires of hell itself."

Amnar approached Saturn and helped the girl to her feet and the rest converged there as well. The creature pleaded with the group. "Please help us."

Gusoin did nothing as Sol and her allies regrouped. He heard Sol say, "Yeah we'll help you. I promise it." The demon god laughed at that and said, "Oh Ranma do not make any promises you can not keep."

Sol looked back at him with deadly intent and he said, "Before you attack again let us parlay. I would so enjoy speaking with you for a few moments before I rip you apart."

Sol looked at her allies and they shrugged at her. She whispered, "Might as well let him rant at us a bit so we can think of something." To Gusoin Sol said, "Alright ugly we'll talk with ya."

"Excellent, now for your edification I have finished building Skynet and in just a scant few minutes it will have entire control over the United States nuclear arsenal."

"You bastard!"

Gusoin just smiled and said, "Yes, Ranma I am a bastard. A dark god conceived in the minds of men and given life by powers you can not begin to comprehend. It is my task to defeat you and bring you kneeling and bloody before the great witch Baba Yaga. Finishing the creation of Skynet here and allowing it to destroy humanity on this world well, that's just icing on the cake for me."

Sol's eyes gleamed with hatred both Saturn and Earth had to hold her back. "Sol, Ranma you should know better than that."

Sol stopped struggling and said, "Yeah Beryl I should, but this bastard is dead. I swear we are going to kill him. I don't know how, but that **thing** will die by our hands."

Gusoin laughed and said, "Valiant words Ranma and now I am done speaking and I think you are as well," He peered behind him and said, "Before we begin our battle I will tell you one last thing. You have less than three minutes to defeat me and destroy Skynet before it begins launch sequence. After that the missiles will be on their way and billions will die."

With that last statement the Large Minotaur Machine Demon God rushed towards the three senshi with death in its eyes.

Author's Notes: My sincere apology for the cliffhanger, but I need some more time to work on the final battle, but at the same time I wanted to post a chapter.


	9. Friction with the machine: Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or Terminator. In addition if you aren't allowed to watch 'R' rated movies you probably ought to avoid this story…

Baba Yaga's Curse: Friction with the machine

Chapter 8

Gusoin laughed and said, "Valiant words Ranma and now I am done speaking and I think you are as well," He peered behind him and said, "Before we begin our battle I will tell you one last thing. You have less than three minutes to defeat me and destroy Skynet before it begins launch sequence. After that the missiles will be on their way and billions will die."

With that last statement the Large Minotaur Machine Demon God rushed towards the three senshi with death in its eyes.

**3.00 **

Sol spun out of its way, appeared behind its back and slammed punches there, while Saturn redirected a blow from one giant metallic fist with her Glaive and Earth went under the creature's guard and delivered a powerful blow to its throat.

The beast continued its forward momentum, while his metallic body ignored the blows as if they hadn't occurred, and sent a blow directly for Saturn. The girl had to block the blow directly with her glaive and was sent flying backwards for her troubles.

Sol and Earth continued their assault on the creature, but it ignored their attacks as if flies were buzzing around it. Suddenly with a very quick gesture it used a single fist to backhand Sol off of it and another that made Earth dodge out of the way and cease her attacks. Then it continued its forward momentum again inexorably towards the recovering senshi of Saturn.

Earth shouted, "Sol destroy Skynet, I'll help defend Saturn."

**2.30 **

Sol nodded and quickly went into the room and sent a bolt of plasma flying towards the machine. The magic went away and when she started to physically attack the machine a wall of impenetrable metal appeared. Down the hall she could hear Gusoin laughing and then an image of him appeared smiling a cruel smile as it said, "Did I neglect to mention that I put a powerful warding spell on that precious device? You'll need to defeat me in order to inflict any harm on it."

Sol growled at the image and flew down the hall way at full speed and hitting Gusoin's back with a powerful blow. For the first time the demon god actually responded to her blows, but only with a single grunt. He turned momentarily to and swung a punch for her which she easily dodged. Then, both she and Earth attacked with Twin versions of the _Amaguriken_ that patted into his metallic body like rain. A few more grunts was all the response they got until he focused on the girls for a moment and attacked them both. Moments later each of the Senshi was sent flying down the hallway towards Saturn.

Saturn was up by then and quickly ran next to her fallen allies to intercept Gusoin as he was just about to unleash his fury upon their fallen forms. This time Saturn was easily able to take the multiple powerful impacts directly on her Glaive without being moved at all. Her allies stood and watched with awe as the beast continued to throw punch after punch at her, while she was unfazed by the powerful assault.

The demon shouted, "How are you doing this girl! I have nullified your known magical abilities."

Sol and Earth were shocked for a moment and then they saw it. Saturn had modified her _silence wall_. No longer was it a simple wall or even a rounded shield, now it was acting as a shock absorber on the silence Glaive itself, taking almost all of the immense punishment that the large creature was dishing out and negating it upon impact..

That gave Earth and Sol a small amount of time to confer and form an idea. Gusoin saw the two making plans and tried to break through Saturn's defenses, but the girl had been trained well.

**2.00 **

Sol said, "He's immune to our direct magical attacks so I can't hurt him with my plasma, but I could heat the area around him while you perform a spiral for the Hiryu Shouten Ha."

Earth's face lit up as she said, "Wait I have an even better idea, heat the area and keep doing it until you see him glowing white hot."

"What are you going to do?"

The Sailor just smiled and shouted, "Earth super secret technique!"

Gusoin mentally prepared for a new spell and slowed his attacks when Earth shot towards him and then ran off into the distance. He screamed at her departing form saying, "Foolish girl. One I defeat your friends I will come looking for you and I will find you. There is no time or place that Gusoin can not find you!"

**1.30 **

With those words the large metallic demon upped his speed and reduced his power looking for a single weak point in Saturn's defense and then he found it. A large metallic fist slammed into Saturn's head and sent the girl crashing into a wall. He started to walk towards the fallen girl, but Sol stepped in his way. "You're gonna have to get through me ugly!"

Gusoin scoffed and began a new assault on the red haired senshi. To his surprise she was also able to block his blows and in addition he could feel the heat of the room begin to rise around him. As it did he shot a fist to the wall and said, "I've seen that technique and it won't work on me girl!"

Sol used that moment of distraction to send a single superheated digit directly into his eyeball.

That attack worked and he screamed out in pain and said, "I will hang your broken body naked before my legions in hell to do with as they please and only when you are begging to die, only then will I bring you before Baba Yaga!"

**1.00 **

Sol just spat in his face and said, "You're welcome to try ugly, but Ranma Taya don't lose to the likes of wimps like you!"

Now, the anger rolled off the demon god in waves and his ruined eye healed faster than even Saffron's abilities could have done. Moments after his eye healed, Gusoin screeched an unrecognizable bellow of rage, and a symbol appeared upon his chest. Suddenly his speed was even faster than it had been. When Gusoin sent another relentless barrage of attacks towards the girl, she was forced to back down the hallway and towards the comatose body of Saturn.

Gusoin continued his assault going down the hall one slow step at a time. Barely noticing as the temperature became hotter, and hotter around him. His skin was becoming a cherry red color and small items spontaneously bursting into fire around him. But he did not see that, all he saw was the ultimate destruction of his prey.

**.30 **

Ranma continued her defense and continued to pump heat directly into the air around them super heating Gusoin in the process. She backed down the hallway another step and noted that they were scant meters away from Saturn and that Gusoin was glowing white hot. She realized that she couldn't risk getting any closer to Saturn for fear of injuring her with the immense heat and was desperately trying to keep Gusoin from moving another centimeter forward when she heard the voice of Sailor Earth shouting, "_Earth Nitrogen Blast!_"

Gusoin was an immensely powerful demon god and he had thought that making his body into strong metal would make him invulnerable to all physical damage. Incorporating that metal with powerful mystical symbols allowed him to nullify most any magic that was used directly on him. For all intents and purposes he should have been immortal, despite that fact when Earth hit his white hot metal body with a stream of super cooled liquid nitrogen the temperature inversion froze him solid and shattered him into thousands of small pieces.

**.10 **

Sol glanced at the pieces of Gusoin aside and said, "Skynet!"

**.04 **

Earth nodded in agreement and the two girls quickly teleported to the machine sent their powers directly into it destroying it utterly. The two senshi teleported back to check on Saturn. When they arrived Sol kicked one of the now inert pieces of Gusoin and said, "Well that's the second self described God I think I've killed."

From the floor Saturn moved a bit and Earth helped her to her feet as she said, "Isn't it actually three Ranma?

"Saffron and Gusoin, that's two."

"What about Master Pharaoh 90?"

Sol thought a moment and the said, "Did that thing ever mention being a God?"

In a quiet voice Saturn said, "Mistress nine used to call it one."

Earth piped in saying, "Well that settles it three self describe gods then."

Sol scratched her head and was about to say something when they all heard a strange dual voice from the room with the now defunct Skynet device.

"Someone, can anyone help me? I feel…feel something happening to me."

The group slowly approached the room where Skynet had been wary of a trap. As they entered they were greeted by the site of Amnar. The creature was left over from Gusoin's plans a horrible wreck of what was previously two whole and healthy human beings one male and the other female merged into one hideous creature. The masculine hand on the right was pulling at its shirt trying to rip it off, while a petite feminine hand was doing the same on the left. Finally the shirt material ripped apart and the thing's chest was revealed.

The half male and half female torso was slowly splitting down the very middle with a shiny metallic item slowly appearing there. The creature's two heads each spoke as if one, "Please save me. The pain is more than I can bear!"

Earth put Saturn down and approached saying, "I have some healing power, but I don't know what I can do for you."

As Earth touched the creature it seemed to sigh as if its pain was being relived, but there was no change in what was happening. The creature was still splitting down the middle, with an entirely female torso and head on one side of a metallic rod and an entirely male torso and head on the other. Suddenly the creature started to scream in pain again and Saturn approached.

The small girl saw the problem and then apologized as she said, "Sol we need to remove its clothes." The senshi of the sun heard her and helped to take the creature's clothes off. The creature seemed to be relieved of pain momentarily, but as it continued to split into two Earth and Saturn had to touch it with their healing powers.

Sol joined in as well and the creature became two distinct people again, the strange metal cylinder in-between them glowed with a deep red light and a single symbol glowed on its tip. Suddenly, all three senshi were caught up in a single bright flash…

* * *

Ranma woke up in a featureless white expanse that he recognized almost immediately. It was the place where she had first seen the Gate of Time. He looked around and spotted his companions as well. All of them were in their civilian forms and each of them looked at the others with confusion as they stood up and gathered together. 

All of them tried to speak at the same time and then they each paused and began again. Finally after two more aborted attempts, Beryl held up a hand and the two others nodded. "I think we can all agree that this looks eerily like the place where Pluto kept the Gates of time."

The two others nodded and Beryl continued saying, "The last thing I remember is hat metal cylinder glowing with a strange symbol, what about you?"

Ranma and Hotaru nodded and then Ranma said, "When that happened all I could think of was getting out of there. I don't remember what I did, but that was my last thought until waking up here."

The black haired girl said, "I had the same thought, to get to safety and then I woke here."

Beryl nodded and said, "I remember something similar, perhaps we triggered something in the Time Gate?"

Ranma relied saying, "Well, there is one way to find out."

The black haired boy tried held up his pen and tried his transformation, but nothing happened. The two others tried as well, but nothing happened with them either.

Ranma sighed and said, "Okay now what?"

"Perhaps we should concentrate on the time gate?"

Ranma and Beryl nodded and the three concentrated and then a silver disk appeared in the air before them. The disk settled down into the white featureless plain and a voice said, "Recovery protocol 3 complete, recovery protocol 1 and 2 still in progress…"

Ranma looked confused and said, "Huh? Since when did this thing speak?"

The voice spoke again saying, "Query from designate Ranma Taya also know as Guardian Sol recognized, processing" a few moments passed and the voice said, "This system has always been able to speak, but all Gate systems were in need of repair due to massive damage from Chronological backlash and subsequent Gate explosion. Voice recognition and speaking centers were finally repaired to functioning status 48 standard hours ago."

Hotaru heard that and said, "So uhm Gate-san what is the current repair status?"

"Query from designate Hotaru Tomoe also known as Guardian Saturn recognized, processing," once again a short moment elapsed and then the voice spoke again, "Systems currently at 78 of normal levels. Emergency protocol 3 has been initiated and was successful. Recovery protocol 2 is still processing and complete repair of gate functions are estimated to occur within 3 standard years."

Beryl added her own question saying, "Wait, what are the recovery protocols?"

"Query from designate Beryl also known as Guardian Earth recognized, processing… The recovery protocols are a number of complex programs set up with in my systems to handle certain events. Recovery protocol 3 was recently initiated and was successful, it was put in place in case the guardian or in this case guardians of the gates were forcefully subjected to time, space, or dimensional travel. It sets up a protected dimensional bubble that keeps the guardian from interacting with any surroundings and allows the guardian to use the gates to rectify the situation."

Ranma interrupted it saying, "So then where are we?"

"Position within time, space and relative dimension will not be provided unknown at this time."

"Why not?"

"Multi universal, dimensional and chronological tracking system is off-line."

Ranma groaned and Hotaru said, "Gate-san how can we use you to rectify our situation then?"

The processing time took quite awhile this time, but the voice finally said, "Recovery protocol 1 must be entirely completed before that information can be given."

Beryl flipped a stray lock out of her eyes and said, "So tell us what recovery protocol 1 is and how to complete it then?"

"Recovery protocol 1 is initiated when the previous guardian is deceased and a new guardian is instituted. Normally this would require a simple bonding with the Guardian's senshi form and powers, but current analysis suggests that one guardian was not enough to prevent catastrophic damage. In addition, designates Ranma, Beryl, and Hotaru are already physically bonded to this unit and thus are intrinsically linked with gate functions. With both items taken into consideration protocol 1 is now being revised."

"Meanin' what exactly?"

"Apologies designate Ranma, this means that the gate systems will have to bond with all three distinct senshi powers and forms. You will be able to access only the most minor powers and defenses of your transformations in the interim."

"How long will this interim last?"

"Approximately three weeks designate Beryl."

"I ain't gonna wait here in this featureless dump for three weeks."

Hotaru touched Ranma's shoulder and said, "I concur we should try to find a way out of here. Perhaps we can use the gate itself to transport us way from our current location."

"Teleportation at this time is not advised. Guardians would be vulnerable to many things that would not normally affect them."

Beryl smiled a bit and said, "Yes thank you gate we understand the danger, now show us some of local space."

"Unable to comply."

Beryl growled and Hotaru said, "Then show us the nearest safe location to teleport."

"Unable to comply."

It was Hotaru's turn to growl as Ranma said, "Wait we've controlled this thing before. Despite it having a voice we're in charge right? I say we concentrate and force this thing to turn on the multi dmiension thingy and then send us to earth."

The other two agreeed with the idae and then the three of them concentrated on making the gate work their will when it said, "Multi universal, dimensional and chronological tracking system on-line. Spatial interference detected. Alien system using major pathways through time/space continuum, linking with alien system and finding coordinates for known planets."

The gate went from being completely silver to showing a large circular metallic disk. "Earth located."

"What do ya mean Earth located? That's a blank silver disk?"

The gate responded by saying, "Security measures are in place on alien transit system."

"Then remove them!"

"Understood designate Beryl, countermeasures activated."

The metal wall suddenly irised open and the three companions stepped through to the other side. The greeting they received there was less than cordial…

Author's Notes: Thanks for waiting, sorry about the cliffhanger and all. I'll be posting more often now…I hope…please muse don't fail me now…


	10. Star Gate or Time Gate: Chapter 1

Recap: Ranma Saotome now Taya is Sailor Sol he gained the memories and abilities from an alternate version of himself that had been born female and was subsequently killed by an evil Queen Serenity.

Beryl is now Sailor Terra she gained the powers of the Earth princess from her generals and the Earth itself when she realized that she wanted to do good and be good like the person she had grown to love Ranma.

Hotaru Tomoe is Sailor Saturn. Ranma and Beryl helped her destroy Mistress 9 and later on she came and saved them from a somewhat maniacal Sailor Pluto.

The three gained the enmity of the ancient Witch Baba Yaga and thus her curse when they shattered the Time Gate in order to prevent her from gaining its use. When they shattered the Time Gate the three were sent into an entirely different world. One in which Sky Net was trying to destroy humanity. Soon enough they realized that they would have to go back in time to defeat Sky Net, but when they did so they were met by an evil Demon named Gusoin. Gusoin was fulfilling a debt he held to Baba Yaga and he tried to destroy the three with some Terminator units that he modified using magic in addition to a warped and twisted person that he made by fusing a male and female together in order to try and locate the gender changing Ranma.

Somewhere along the line Ranma and his two companions consummated their relationship and then it all came to a head at the Cheyenne mountain complex where Ranma and his allies defeated Gusoin, but they ended up being thrown into yet another universe…

Baba Yaga's Curse: Star Gate or Time Gate

Chapter 1

Ranma, Hotaru and Beryl stepped out of the gate only to be met by a veritable army of U.S. marines standing in front of them with guns at the ready. Given Ranma's most recent experiences with the military he could probably be forgiven for what happened next.

The boy jumped high into the air and sent vacuum blades all over the room quickly and efficiently targeting each gun and slicing them to bits, then he waded into melee with the girls not two steps behind him. The three high powered martial artists quickly incapacitated the people in their way, but were unable to get to a large metal blast door before it closed.

Left in the room the three quickly incapacitated any of the remaining marines. Then, they looked towards the gate that they had arrived by. Ranma said, "Okay let's get out of here."

He concentrated on making the time gate appear, but nothing happened. He sighed and said, "All together, come on."

As the three concentrated on trying to make the portal reappear a soft hissing sound could be heard throughout the room. Ranma silently cursed to himself and continued to concentrate.

He woke up some time later in a small cell. A voice outside the cell said, "I'm going to come in now, please don't make us sedate you again."

"Right come on in then." Ranma said, and then sighed as he realized he had been in a situation that was eerily similar to this one and with the U.S. government as well. He checked his pockets and realized that these people had indeed taken everything including his transformation pen.

As a man with sandy brown hair and wearing glasses walked into the room Ranma decided that his next task would be learning Mousse's hidden weapons technique. He finished that thought just as the brown haired man closed the door behind him, then held out a hand, and said, "Hi I'm Daniel Jackson."

Ranma took the proffered hand and said, "Ranma Taya, I'd say that I am pleased to meet you…" The young martial artist gave Daniel a wry grin and then continued, "But, considering the fact that we were attacked when we arrived and my current situation well…"

Ranma shrugged and Daniel nodded to him saying, "About that, well from our point of view you guys broke in here. What were we to think when that happened?"

Ranma nodded at that, then Daniel continued saying, "But, you guys only fought to disable. Men with guns and you didn't kill a single one of them so General Hammond is rethinking the situation."

Rethinking was good in Ranma's book it meant that there might be a possibility of being freed. Still the girls were nowhere to be seen so he said, "What about my friends where are they at?"

Daniel knew he would have asked the same question and the information was allowed so he said, "One of them is currently sedated and the other is nearby, but I don't think we can let you together just yet."

Ranma sighed and looked around the room noting the positions of the cameras and the air vents. He realized that these people wanted something so he just came out and said, "So, you what exactly do you want from me?"

The brown haired man said simply, "Information, like about how you overrode the iris on the gate and why. We'd also like to know if you know anything about another girl we have here named Reece."

The name meant nothing to Ranma so he shrugged and said, "Reece? No, I don't think I know her and as for the Iris, I'll take a guess and assume that it is the metallic wall thing you guys had set up on your gate right?"

Daniel nodded and Ranma would have answered the question, but he suddenly realized that he had absolutely no idea as to how the Time Gate had opened the Iris. Some sort of technical computer thing he was sure, but that wasn't his area of expertise, Beryl or Hotaru might know, but even with their memories the Time Gate was a sophisticated magical and technological device. As he mused he noticed that Daniel was waiting for an answer and so he said, "Mostly by magic really."

"Magic?" The sandy brown haired man looked a bit annoyed and said, "Come on now, you can't seriously expect us to believe that you used magic can you?"

A standard answer and Ranma had heard it before right up until he splashed himself with cold water so he said, "I suppose you don't believe in magic, well then would you like to see some?"

Daniel knew that the young man in front of him had been searched for weapons and yet he was a bit nervous as he said, "What kind of magic?"

Ranma smiled enigmatically and said, "How about a cup of water?"

Daniel was confused by Ranma's answer drawing out the first word in his answer as he said, "Suure we can do that." he walked over to the door and tapped on it. A few moments later someone came to the door wearing a U.S. Air Force uniform. The person spoke with Daniel for a few seconds and then the door was closed.

Daniel waited at the door and after a short wait it was opened and he was given a glass of water. He brought it to the desk that Ranma was sitting and handed it to the young man. Ranma smiled, took the water in his hand and dumped it over his head.

Ranma's transformation into a tall red haired elfin girl astonished Daniel, but it was possible that the girl was even more astonished when she could not even feel where her transformation pen might be. She groused to herself about it for a moment and then decided to try talking her way into getting the pen from this guy and if that didn't work there were always the _Umisenken _arts.

Ranma was just about to figure out a way to ask Daniel for the pen without arousing his suspicion when an airman opened the door and said, "Dr. Jackson, Colonel O'Neill is back and your presence is requested in Major Carter's laboratory."

Daniel was silent for a moment as his mind attempted to understand Ranma's transformation, but he realized that this new situation must be important so he looked at the girl in front of him and said, "I need to go do this, but I'd like to have the doctor look at you okay?"

Ranma nodded and Daniel left the room. Moments later a few airmen came in with weapons drawn. She allowed them to put cuffs on her and lead her to the infirmary, hoping that she might sense her pen or the other girls on her way, or at the very least determine the layout of the place.

Ranma walked back into the more public examination area and her guards seemed to sigh with relief that nothing had happened in the private area. She took a seat and sat at an examination table while an older red haired woman said, "Well those are your vitals in this form or as best as we can do without a really full gynecological exam from an Obstetrician," Ranma shuddered at the idea and the woman continued by saying, "Well I don't think that's necessary at this time. I'm satisfied that you are fully female and near human."

She finished writing a few more notes and then said, "Now for the second part. You said that you turn into a male with hot water right?"

Ranma nodded and held out her hand as the doctor gave her a cup of hot water. As she poured the water on her head she said, "Yeah Dr. Frasier, I used to think of it as a curse, now I guess it's just me."

The doctor looked wide eyed as the pointy eared, red haired girl turned into a black haired boy with rounded ears. He smiled at her and said, "I guess that might seem pretty amazing."

Dr. Frasier was still a bit shocked and said, "Well, I've seen quite a bit around here, but this one is even strange for the SGC. Now why don't we see how deep the transformation is?" She then started a full physical exam of the young man in front of her.

As the examination proceeded Ranma was rather sure that he was in Cheyenne Mountain, but this area had not been on the plans in the world he had recently come from. His concerns had now become twofold. First he had yet to think of a way to ask about his transformation pen and second was the possibility that Skynet might exist in this world.

Ranma's thoughts continued trying to figure out a solution and then, just as the exam was concluding Daniel Jackson came into the infirmary to be treated for a head injury. Dr. Frasier excused herself saying, "We're almost done, but stay here I want to see a few results and check one or two more things."

Ranma nodded and sat where he was watching the doctor work. He hardly paid any attention to the two guards near him as he continued to figure out exactly what his next move should be.

As Dr. Frasier was tending Daniel's injury a silver haired man with Colonel's stripes came in the room with two other people. A woman with a Major's stripe and a tall black skinned man with some type of gold device emblazoned on his forehead. The Colonel spoke to Daniel with sarcasm evident in his voice. "That went well."

The blond girl with a Major's stripe who had come in with the Colonel looked over to Ranma for a moment as if she wanted to ask him some questions, but instead she added to the conversation at Daniel's bed. "Maybe she has some sort of programming that prevents her from acknowledging she's anything but human."

The Colonel looked unconvinced and said, "Robot denial?"

Daniel seemed to be trying to mollify the Colonel and said, "Maybe Jack, it looks that way."

The silver haired man frowned and then said, "Has it occurred to anyone that this thing may have been lying around that planet for, oh, quite some time and that maybe it's broken? Or perhaps it never worked right in the first place?"

The major looked concerned and said, "Do you think we should shut her down sir?"

The man looked sardonic. "Oh, I don't know, let's ask the man who just had his head cracked open."

Daniel still seemed to be trying to placate the man as he said, "I don't think she meant to hurt me. I just don't think she liked what I was saying."

With a bit of frustration the silver haired man said, "Look Daniel, I don't like most of what you say. I try to resist the urge to shove you through a wall."

The blond girl said, "I don't know Colonel, but somehow Reece managed to survive a massive attack from Replicators. There has to be more that we can learn from her, Sir."

The Colonel sighed, saw Ranma watching the entire scene and said, "Fine, but first I'm going to go talk to our other guest over there maybe he or she will be less frustrating."

The man walked over to where Ranma was sitting and held out a hand, "Colonel O'Neill, U.S. air force. Pleased to meet you uh…Ramen was it?"

Ranma saw something familiar about the man's demeanor as he took his hand and said, "Ran-ma, I'm Ranma Taya. I don't suppose you're just going to let me and my friends go?"

O'Neill shook his head and said, "Sorry no can do right now. You guys broke in and all that and while we are really happy that no one was hurt, we still need to know how you did it."

Ranma pointed over to Daniel's bed and said, "Just like I told him it was magic."

Sam had been going over the test results with Dr. Frasier and she walked over just in time to hear Ranma say it was magic. The blond woman said, "Like the way you transform?"

Ranma shook his head, "No that's a completely different type of magic. You know my friends and I could show you if you wanted."

Daniel had gotten out of bed by then and approached the group next to Ranma's bed with Teal'c and said, "Why don't we do this later guys? First maybe we should talk to Reece."

Ranma who had heard the conversation between Daniel and Jack said, "Is she the Robot who tried to put you through a wall?"

Daniel didn't answer, but Ranma thought that this might be a good point to warn them saying, "My friends and I happen to have some experience with robots all of it bad. The world we came from was almost destroyed by some. Why don't you let me come with you to see if she's anything like the ones that attacked us?"

The Colonel looked interested in the idea, but shook his head and said, "Sorry no can do on that one, but I'll check with the General and see what he says. I'll have an airman escort you to the room where your friends are and you can stay there. I'll have someone come by with a picture and some information and you can tell them okay?"

Ranma shrugged and then said, "Well if I have to be in jail can't you at least give me my pen back. My friends and I like to draw…"

O'Neill looked to Sam and said, "Anything come back from the tests?"

The major shook her head and said, "They look like regular pens sir."

The colonel nodded and said, "Alright I'll give you your pens, but none of your other stuff?"

Ranma just nodded an allowed his guards to escort him out.

Some time later and to Ranma's delight the pens had not been deemed dangerous and so he had been given his pen and the other girl's pens before being escorted to their room. When he entered he was greeted with hugs and kisses from Hotaru and Beryl. Then, when he distributed the transformation pens he was greeted with more.

When the general happiness quieted down he spoke in whispered Japanese, "Okay here's the deal. We are in Cheyenne Mountain or at list an alternate version of it. The people here seem to be having some sort of problem with a robot girl"

Beryl interjected, "I do not trust robots at all."

Hotaru shook her head and said, "I do not trust them either. We should tell these people the danger that robots can pose."

Ranma nodded and said, "I told them that they were dangerous so someone will come down to talk with us later. Until then we're stuck here because I'm not planning on breaking out right now."

The two girls agreed with him and so all three waited in the room for quite some time. Then Ranma spoke in Japanese again, "Maybe we should try getting the gate open in here just to talk to it? Maybe get some information about the area, because someone was supposed to come down and it's been nearly an hour."

Beryl nodded her assent and said, "Yes it seems likely that something has gone wrong with that robot. They wouldn't have left us this long if things were going well."

The three tried to concentrate on bringing up a connection to the Gate, but nothing happened. Beryl said, "Perhaps we need to be closer to the gate that we arrived through?"

Just as Ranma was about to answer an alarm went off in the facility. He sighed and said, "Looks like we need to get out of this room sooner than we thought."

He stood up, grabbed his pen and transformed. She listened to the door for a moment, then it and kicked it. The large metallic door was blown its hinges and out into the corridor.

Before walking out Sailor Sol disguised her wings and made herself look as much like Ranma's female form as possible. Sailor Terra and Saturn followed suit and walked out with her. In the hallway they saw a large number of scurrying mechanical bugs.

Ranma pointed a hand at one and blasted it with a bolt of super heated plasma or at least that's what she tried to do. Unfortunately the bolt had as much power as a regular flame thrower and the mechanical creature was not harmed.

It turned towards her as did a number of its allies and they attacked. Ranma cursed as she dodged the attacks and smashed a few of the attackers into rubble as they jumped at her. Ranma's immediate switch from magical attacks to her martial skills was a resounding success. Beryl and Saturn had also tried their magical attacks with about as much success as Ranma had gotten and so they too switched to their magically enhanced martial abilities.

As the group destroyed the small robots Hotaru said, "Ranma the gate we originally came through. One of the people questioning us asked us what world we came from, so it makes sense to think it can be used to access other worlds, do you think these creatures might be trying to do that?"

Ranma shrugged and said, "I don't know and it's not like these spider robots are talking."

Beryl said, "Still, it does give us an idea of where we should go, plus we might be able to access the gate and use it to determine why our powers…" She paused and then cursed loudly a few times.

"What is it Beryl?" Ranma and Hotaru said at the same time.

The pink haired girl looked grim and said, "The gate, remember when it was telling us about the protocols it said that Recovery protocol 1 had been initiated and that until it was complete we would be able to access only the most minor powers and defenses of our transformations in the interim."

Ranma's visage showed his clear annoyance as he said, "Just great, stinkin great!"

Hotaru touched Ranma's shoulder and said, "Perhaps if we can get to its physical location we can communicate with it and convince it to give us our full powers?"

Ranma nodded and said, "Right, this way then. I think…"

The three set off towards the gate room and after a few wrong turns, plus judicious use of the _Umi Sen Ken_ to avoid encounters with U.S. Air Force personnel, they finally arrived in a hallway that was next to the gate room. There they saw Daniel, O'Neil, the large black skinned man with the golden symbol on his head, Sam, and a man with clear General's markings on his outfit with some other Air Force personnel.

They were being harried by the tiny robot creatures and so Ranma dropped in and used multiple Vacuum blades to destroy the Replicators in the area. The other two girls with him appeared from nowhere at her side in defensive positions as she smiled at the group and said, "We thought you guys might like our help."

The Air Force Personnel pointed their guns at the new comer, but the General said, "At ease, if she wanted to escape or kill us she already would have."

Sam who was standing at the door to the gate room said, "Reece has sealed herself in the Gate room. She's got a lot of Replicators with her."

O'Neill looked at the damage Ranma had done to the Replicators compared to their weapons and said, "Hey, here's a plan. You guys go in the Gate room, destroy her and the Replicators and then we send you home."

The general seemed inclined to agree and Ranma nodded as she started to step to the door, but Daniel said, "Wait, I'd like to try and stop her first."

O'Neill looked at him and said with obvious annoyance, "How?"

Daniel shrugged and said calmly, "Maybe, get her trust back."

Frustration showed on the Colonel's face as he said, "Then what?"

Daniel responded, "Then, then, then.." He paused, shrugged and admitted, "I don't know. I'm just making this up as I go."

The blonde woman said, "Perhaps if you could somehow manage to get close enough to her, you might be able to remove her power chip."

The man with a golden symbol looked at her calmly and stated simply, "What of the Replicators?"

Sam looked confident as she said, "Teal'c these aren't the same Replicators that we're used to dealing with. Right now, she's controlling them. If Daniel can shut her down, the Replicators might just cease to operate. Look, they exist to protect Reece. If she's eliminated, they have no protocol upon which to act."

The man frowned slightly and said with some conviction, "Indeed, but they may attack Daniel Jackson in order to exact revenge and to restore their leader to power."

Daniel motioned to the entire group and said, "Yeah, well that's where you guys will come in."

The balding General had listened to the entire exchange obviously taking in the information as he made his decision, "Very well, I'm authorizing it. I'm willing to give you a chance, Dr Jackson."

The silver haired man frowned and said, "General, with all due respect, I think it's a bad idea. I think we should just let Ranma and his friends go in there and use whatever it is they just used to destroy all the critters in there and call it a day."

Hammond just shook his head and said, "Let's try it this way first."

Ranma smiled and said, "We'll have your back."

Daniel looked at a monitor that showed him a young girl in the gate room. He said, "Reece, please let me in, I just want to talk to you."

The door opened and as Daniel walked into the Gate room Ranma and her two allies faded from view and followed him. The door closed behind them just O'Neill could be heard saying, "I want one of whatever they are using."

Daniel slowly moved forward and attempted to convince Reece that he was her friend and not a threat while Ranma, Beryl and Hotaru watched. Daniel promised that no harm would come to the Robot girl and she walked closer to him.

That was when Daniel tried to reach the power pack at the side of her neck, but Reece was too fast for him. She grabbed his wrist and twisted it, causing him to cry out in pain, before collapsing on the floor. That's when Ranma dropped the _Umi Sen Ken _and rushed the robot girl skillfully breaking her grip on Daniel's arm.

The action was fast and when it was over Ranma held Reece's hand in her own and slowly overpowered her putting the girl's arm in a painful lock. Reece shrieked and said, "Please don't hurt me."

As the girl cried out in pain the Replicators stared to rush towards her, but Beryl and Hotaru were able to smash them before they could get there. The destruction of the creatures affects the girl as she stares at the remains with some amount of sadness. Ranma twists her arm slightly as some out in the corridor and throughout the base start coming towards the room. Hearing the commotion Ranma is about to press her switch when Daniel cries out, "Wait, please she can stop them."

Ranma let up on her grip a bit as Daniel walked close enough to touch the girl and said, "Reece, please listen to me."

Reece stares at Daniel and sees Beryl and Hotaru destroying more of the Replicators that have arrived in a large swarm in the room. Clearly indicating the maddened Replicators she says, "Make them stop!"

Daniel shakes his head and says, "I can't. You can."

Reece looks back at Ranma who is still holding her arm in a lock and says, "No! She'll kill me."

Daniel uses a soothing voice to say, "No, no-one wants that. We just don't want you to destroy our world the way you destroyed yours. You created these Replicators, you told them to replicate at all costs. They destroyed your world and you let them."

The girl looked panicked and said, "No, it wasn't my fault! My father he knew the ancients and he gave me their programming."

Daniel pleaded with the girl some more saying, "I know you didn't want to destroy your world and I know you don't want to destroy mine. That's why you have to stop now. No one will hurt you. We may be able to fix you."

The robot girl looked scared and said, "How?"

In a comforting voice Daniel said, "Shut off your toys, go to sleep. We'll find a way. I will wake you up myself, I promise. I'm your friend. I don't want you to die."

Reece looks at Daniel and then behind her at the girl who could have easily destroyed her by now, then she collapses into Ranma's arms. Ranma picks her up in her arms and Daniel moves next to Ranma and touches her on the shoulder. He looks down at the sleeping Robot and says, "Thank you."

Beryl and Hotaru approach as well and Beryl says, "We may need to use the gate and go now Ranma."

Ranma nods, but Daniel stops by saying, "Wait, maybe we could use more of your help?"

Ranma frowns and says, "My friends and I have been given the chance to leave. I think we should have that conversation with the General or someone at a later time, but not until we speak with that gate."

She looks to Beryl and Hotaru and says, "Vents?"

By the time she speaks the other two girls are already coming back from making a circuit around the Gate room. They nod to her and she smiles back at them, "Good."

The three begin to concentrate on the gates and at that moment an airman finishes cutting a hole in the Gate room door. O'Neil runs in, and sees that the Robot is asleep in Daniel's arms and that at least part of the situation is taken care of. Outside in the corridor, the Replicators have already disintegrated and O'Neil speaks into a radio saying, "The robot has been neutralized."

Moments afterward the Stargate spins around and opens with a kerwoosh sound and then settles. Ranma and her allies step through and wave.

The Colonel walks over to Daniel and says, "I hope you have the gate address."

Daniel just looks at Jack as if he's a total moron and then nods.

* * *

Author's Notes: I rewrote this chapter because I was just having a hard time getting to the next plot point. I think the changes I made will allow me to continue on further and get more of this story written.

Q


	11. Star Gate or Time Gate: Chapter 2

Baa Yaga's Curse

Star Gate or Time Gate: Chapter 2

Ranma, Beryl and Hotaru passed through the gate into pure darkness. With one supremely experienced martial arts master and two trainees who were nearly as powerful they did not end up tripping all over each other and so mere moments after their arrival, Ranma held up her hand and tried to use her senshi powers to light up the room.

The power flared momentarily in Ranma's hands and the group was able to look around the room, then the power flared out and they were in darkness once again. Ranma gave a small curse and said, "Powers are not respondin' like they should I'll try _chi_"

He held out his hands and a blue sphere formed in them lighting the room once again and letting everyone realize that they were not in some folded dimension like the one the Time Gate had originally created when they had arrived in this universe. No, this time they were in a very physical location. The floor was solid and the gate sat there in the middle of the room. The surrounding walls were filled with star maps, writing, and a single solid metallic door leading out.

Beryl and Hotaru had been trying their powers with similar luck as Ranma had had and stopped trying, then when the room was finally lit by Ranma's _chi_ Hotaru was the first to speak saying with some amount of awe, "This is writing from the Silver Millennium I would recognize it anywhere."

"Yes, I recognize it as well. This is the script that Serenity and her ilk used." Beryl's voice held arrogance and scorn, but the hatred was long gone. "It seems to be explaining the workings of the Time Gate and the history behind it."

Ranma, who was still holding a glowing ball of focused _chi_, said, "Does it mention how ta turn on the lights in here. I can hold this thing for a few minutes, but not forever."

The two women in the room looked at each other and said in unison, "We'll get right on that Ranma honey." After speaking they quickly moved around the room looking for a power source of some type. Ranma followed them helping to light their way until Beryl pointed at some markings in the floor and slid it open to reveal a dark crystalline device.

Beryl swore softly and Ranma queried her saying, "What is it?"

"The Zero Point Module isn't working anymore. Sorry Ranma, but we'll need you to keep the light on as we look through the facility to see if there's another power source or Zero Point Module in storage."

Ranma dimmed the _chi_ light slightly saying, "I'll see what I can do, but this is gonna wear me out pretty quick. Too bad somethin' is wonky with our powers 'cause if that was my Plasma could keep it up for near ever."

Hotaru nodded and said, "I'm sure we'll all figure it out soon and if this place is laid out anything like the one I visited in my timeline I think I know where we can go." She started walking and the other two followed behind her with Ranma whispering, "Beryl I remember some of Taya's life, but what's a Zero Point Module?"

One short walk and an explanation later the group was in a large room with a strange generator that was built to the ceiling and very large windows giving a clear view of space and another planetoid.

If Ranma hadn't had a past on the Moon Kingdom, been on an honest to god spaceship, or learned how to pilot a vehicle around a planet that was one gigantic city he would have been awestruck. Since he had those experiences he was somewhat more blasé' saying, "So can you two start this thing up?"

Beryl and Hotaru nodded and set to work starting the generator. Nearly half an hour later they finished their work and the generator started with a hum, lighting the room and allowing Ranma to slump to the ground with an exhausted sigh of relief. The two women who had been working on the generator quickly ran over to him to check his status. He accepted their help to regain a standing position and then said, "Wow that really wiped me I think I could really use some sleep, but first we should probably get answers…"

The group walked through the lighted facility in tired silence, arriving at the room with the time gate and attempting to start the device. While they were not successful they did stumble on the activation cycle for an Artificially Intelligent Computers and Holographic Matrix that worked with the gate.

The hologram AI flared to life as a near perfect representation of the former Sailor Pluto, Setsuna Meio and said simply, "Greetings…"

Even as it finished making that simple statement Ranma, Beryl, and Hotaru were in defensive positions ready to attack at the slightest hint of violence. But, the hologram did not attack instead it started from the beginning of its statement, "Greetings I am Princess Pluto the last guardian of the Gates of Time and servant to the Empire of Alterra. If you are seeing this hologram, then you must be Guardians or friendly to our cause. My apologies for being unable to greet you in person, but I will soon either die or ascend."

The hologram was quiet for a moment, then looked to the assembled groups saying, "Replay message?"

Ranma looked at the hologram and said, "Wait, what do you mean die or ascend and why can't we access the Gates of Time?"

The green haired hologram looked at him and said, "Records indicate that the Alterrans were all dying of a mysterious plague. Those who did not perish chose to Ascend to a higher plane of being."

Ranma looked to Hotaru and Beryl and shrugged. The pink haired guardian of earth looked back to Ranma and said, "I assume that somehow they went beyond their physical forms and become spirits of some sort."

The hologram nodded and said, "Energy beings of a sort, so you are correct miss…" it paused and then said, "Forgive me, but I do not have you in my archives or records can you please state your names and designations?"

The three introduced themselves and when they were done Hotaru was the one who asked, "So what happened to the Moon Kingdom?"

"I have accessed all records from the history of the Alterran people. The records show that The Moon Kingdom and Earth were united by the marriage of Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion they combined their empire into one known as Alterra. The Alterrans created amazing technologies and a network of gates throughout this universe. It is likely that had the plague not occurred their empire would be flourishing to this day."

Beryl looked somewhat stunned and said, "So you are telling us that I…or well my counterpart here did not join forces with Queen Metalia and attempt to destroy the Moon Kingdom due to jealousy?"

The hologram simply said, "Records indicate that Beryl also known as Sailor Earth was instrumental in warning the kingdom about the threat from Metalia. She sacrificed her own life to destroy Metalia and a place designated as the Negaverse."

The message ran through Beryl impacting with her conscience in a distinct manner. Her original choice of Jealousy, Hatred, Vengeance, and service to Metalia had destroyed the Moon Kingdom and extinguished millions of lives. She would have continued on that path had she not come into contact with Ranma and Hotaru, but here in this universe a counterpart had chosen the altruistic path without that contact and in doing so had apparently helped create a vast empire across the universe. She fell to her knees in tears and cried under the full force of a wave of shame that washed over her.

Soft hands pulled her up from the floor and embraced her in a soft hug that was joined by another person. A single voice whispered in her ears softly, "We love you Beryl. No matter what you did in the past we are here for you now."

It was Hotaru's voice whispering in her ear, but Beryl knew that the sentiment was shared by both of the people who were holding her. That acceptance allowed her to settle her emotions and feel better about herself. She was not the person she had been, would not ever be so again, and her two companions would love her no matter what. She sighed softly and stepped away from the embrace saying softly, "Thank you, thank you both for reminding me."

There was silence for a moment and another hug that seemed to last an eternity. It was interrupted by the hologram of Sailor Pluto saying, "Repeat message?"

The three groaned, but realized they still had work to do. So Ranma turned to the gate and said, "No, we don't need ta hear the message again. We need to know what's going on with our powers and how ta turn the Time Gates back on."

The image looked at them and said, "The Time Gate cannot be re-initialized without a Zero Point Energy Module. As for your powers more information is required."

The three groaned tiredly softly and provided the information to the AI. When they were done the image said, "Data has been taken in. Analysis of factors will take approximately 8 hours."

Ranma yawned and said, "I think that's our cue to get some sleep."

The three wandered off to find a place to sleep leaving the powerful AI to the task of analyzing all the information and attempting to find a solution.

Eight hours later the three were once again in the room with the Time Gate and receiving a briefing on their powers and what the best AI from the Moon Kingdom could come up with. The green haired hologram was pacing back and forth as she said, "As you know the Guardian powers are created via a Mana receiver that is part and parcel of each guardian's transformation pen. That pen in turn is attuned to a specific DNA and magical signature so that only the guardian may use it to receive mana from their respective planet."

Ranma looked at her and said, "But when I was fighting that Emperor guy I had to be in an entirely different Galaxy. How could the mana from an earth star get all that way in an instant and why was it so much more powerful?"

The hologram paused a moment as if to think and then replied, "There are at least two permutations to consider, either of which may be distinctly possible. It could be that the transformation rod pulled Mana from the nearest star to your location and that the star was much more powerful than our own. It could also be that this 'Force' as it was termed was somehow responsible for increasing the power of your transformation."

The hologram pondered a moment more, then looked at Ranma and said, "Or there may be something else. The variables on other galaxies are unknown to this unit."

Ranma sighed and said, "Yeah okay, ya don't know, Taya wouldn't know, and neither of my friends know. Well I guess the only good thing then is that we aren't there and don't have to worry about it right now."

Hotaru and Beryl nodded with Beryl saying, "You're right Ranma our priority should be figuring out how to fix our current situation."

The beautiful green haired hologram nodded and said, "Very well. This unit has considered all of the information provided and the most likely theory is that the Time Gate was attempting to give each of you a portion of the mana tap for Pluto and that in order to do so the Time Gate took most of your reception abilities from your henshin rods. It is possible that when you used the Stargate instead of going to the subspace pocket originally created upon your entrance to this universe you instead came here. When that occurred the portion of the Time Gate inside you merged with its counterpart here taking the entirety of your mana reception system with it."

Hotaru help up her transformation pen and said, "So that means this is basically useless now?"

"That is correct," replied the hologram with a near sad look. "However, if the gate in this reality were to become functional again it is likely that would no longer be the case."

"Zero Point Energy Modules do not exactly grow on trees. I don't suppose you know where we might find one?" Said Beryl with an obvious affectation of haughtiness.

The green haired hologram said softly, "A few places are known to this device. You will have to go to them if you wish to find one."

Ranma looked up with some consternation saying, "Wait a moment. I get that these Modules are really powerful, but how is it that we had the gates inside up previously. I mean yeah we had some pretty major power, but enough for our own powers and enough for the gate?"

Beryl was about to reply when he looked up and said, "Oh wait I get it or I guess Taya does. The Module is just necessary to power the gate up and then it powers itself or somethin' right?"

The hologram nodded again and said, "You are correct Guardian. The gate, once active, is capable of drawing power from the Time Stream."

Ranma nodded. "Okay Got it." Even as he spoke Hotaru was looking at the hologram and saying, "So where are these Zero Point Energy Modules?"

The hologram seemed to hesitate slightly and then replied, "Each planet in this system had at least one at its palace, however…" it stopped a moment and added, "Security clearance Omnicron Ceta not granted."

Beryl, Ranma, and Hotaru looked at the hologram as is seemed to fade in and out, then finally return to solidity. "In addition the Lantean expedition had three, one was brought to Luna Two, one was brought to Hellene, one was brought to Proclarush Teonas..."

The hologram continued a list of planets and systems when Ranma butted in saying, "Wait, what were you saying about the ones here in this solar system? We should try and get those first and then look outside of the Solar System right?"

Beryl and Hotaru nodded in agreement, but the Hologram said, "Unfortunately the Solar Teleportation grid is not working…." It paused again as if to say something more, but instead said nothing.

Beryl looked at the hologram and said to the others, "We are missing something. A piece of information that has been secured by the creator of this holographic AI." Even as she said that she looked to the hologram and said, "We need access to all classified data."

"Denied," was the simple reply.

She frowned at the image and wondered aloud, "What could possibly be secured. It gave us information on the Zero Point Energy Modules, the history of the Moon Kingdom, the Alterran Empire, and the apparent end of the same. What could we be missing?"

The three looked at each other. Ranma shrugged first and Beryl did as well. Hotaru was about to do the same when instead a flash of inspiration caught her. "The other planets in this system; something about them is what is causing the security lockdown.

She thought on her idea a moment and added, "It seems odd that all of the platforms are down, but if I recall correctly there was a security precaution that would shut them down if they were exposed to Vacuum or destroyed. That most likely why we can't do that and why the AI stopped itself so quickly."

Beryl nodded saying, "That makes sense, so something destroyed those planets and their palaces, but it is a secret. I wonder what it was."

"Mistress Nine and the Black Moon Family…" Hotaru said very softly anger and fear radiating off her as she said the names.

Silence permeated the room for a moment, then a different voice said, "Access granted daughter of Serenity." The group looked to see and the green haired Guardian of Pluto had been replaced by an image that looked much like Queen Serenity.

The blond haired hologram smiled slightly at the group and said, "I am Queen Serenity the Fourth and I am recording this classified holodata regarding the Black Moon Family and Mistress Nine. In order to access this file you must have known those names ass passwords, but that does not mean you know the history. So, I will tell you in some detail and then allow you to access all secured data from the regular holo unit."

The image sighs slightly and then said, "It is my own fault. I allowed Wiseman into the Alterran Empire and he in turn corrupted our citizens turning them into The Black Moon family. It was an organization devoted to a book and premise that they called Origin. Supposedly it proved that all Alterrans were gods and worthy of worship. At first I allowed it to spread, but when the violence started I had to intervene, but by then it was too late. The Princess of Saturn was turned to their side and calling herself Mistress Nine. With her help the group was able to gather enough energy to call upon a being of pure malice named Pharaoh 90."

The blond haired woman paused a moment as emotions took hold of her and she cried. It took a few moments before she composed herself enough to say, "It…it killed them all and then it began a destructive path across the solar system. It started at Uranus and worked its way towards the moon. I knew what it wanted…"

She paused again to compose herself again, and then continued, "It wanted the Star Gate in the hopes that it could continue its destructive path across the entire universe. The only way to stop it was to sacrifice everything we had on the moon. Every generator of power we had and the Stargate itself were all set to overload including the Ginzouishou."

"We destroyed the center of the former Moon Kingdom to save the Alterran Empire. Then we took those who still followed the ways of Origin and banished them to another universe."

The hologram stopped speaking and then faded back into its previous green haired form leaving Ranma and his wives staring at the image. The silence went on for a number of minutes until Ranma said, "Well, now we know that the Module things here in this Solar system can't be retrieved without space suits and a teleported, so I guess we ought to go looking on the other planets that were mentioned. The only question left is how to do that?"

The hologram gave him his answer by stating, "The Time Gates can be activated as if they were part of the Star Gate system using the power requirements currently on hand. If you will simply follow my instructions I can tell you how this may be accomplished."

With that the three began working and planning for their journey into the galaxy in the hopes that they could get their powers back, start up the Time Gates, and return to their home universe.

* * *

It had been nearly a year and a half since Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, Jack O'Neill and Teal'c had seen Ranma and his allies. A year that Daniel had spent most of his time ascended and the rest of the team had considered him dead. Now Daniel was back and the group was on a planet attempting to meet with a member of the Free Jaffa in their quest to gain more allies against Anubis.

The four spot a lone unarmed Jaffa walking in the woods and find hiding positions. Jack is the first to exit from his hiding position behind a tree with his P-90 raised he spoke saying, "All right, Hold it! Right There!"

Moments later Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson also came out of hiding with their weapons raised. Daniel approached closest and said, "Hi there."

The Jaffa finally spoke saying, "I am Ryk'l of the Goauld Moloc."

Teal'c approached the man as well and Ryk'l said, "Shal kek nem ron."

The large Jaffa with a gold symbol on his forehead approached closely and said, "I, too, will die free, brother."

After speaking Teal'c grasped hands with Ryk'l in a Jaffa greeting, when they finished Ryk'l said, "Teal'c of the Tau'ri? Your legend precedes you. Thank you for meeting me."

Teal'c nodded and said, "We have been told that there are a great many here who believe in the dream of freedom for all Jaffa." Just then, a blast of energy hits Ryk'l from behind and he drops to the ground with a hole in him. Then, more of the energy blasts go whizzing by SG-1 as they run for cover behind some rocks and start returning fire. Bullets fly through the air and Jaffa wielding staffs use them to fire blasts that come dangerously close to killing members of the SG-1 team.

There are a great many attackers moving closer in attempting to pin the team from Earth down and destroy them, but suddenly they are beset from behind by new blasts that seem to be a combination of energy blasts and some type of wind blade that bisects anything it hits. Silence pervades as SG-1 stops firing and trying to see into the Smoke and debris that cover the area.

Jack whispers to Teal'c saying, "More rebel Jaffa?"

Teal'c shrugs very slightly saying, "There is only one way to be certain." He then shouts out, "Shel kek nem ron!"

There is no response at first except smoke and then Teal'c calls again, "Shel kek nem ron!"

Footsteps can be heard in the smoke and then two female Jaffa step into view with their staff weapons at their sides. The lithe dark skinned one with short curly black hair speaks saying, "Warriors of the Tau'ri we mean you no harm."

Several more female Jaffa join the first one and then a Red headed girl fades into view right next to SG-1. She holds no weapon at all and just smirks at them as she moves from her position and joins the others as if to say_, 'I had you dead to rights and you never knew.'_

The lithe black skinned woman speaks again saying, "Please come with us."

SG-1 seems to be mulling their response over as a death glider flies overhead. The lithe woman looks to another paler skinned woman with short curly brown hair and a sour expression that seems grafted on her face and says, "Shak krek tel kree."

The brown haired woman leaves and the Red haired woman takes her place. She stands there without a weapon and continues to grin as if she is holding a funny secret. Before she can speak to SG-1 the woman standing next to her says, "The Stargate will not be accessible for long. We must hurry."

Even as she is speaking the pale brown haired woman walks to Ryk'l and turns him over. She pulls at his stomach and removes a squealing creature, then places it in a metal pot with a lid. SG-1 watches with some trepidation and Daniel Jackson says, "What is she doing?"

The lithe woman just looks back at him and says, "There is no time to explain here. Please come with us."

The woman with the creature in a pot approaches the group and speaks to the dark skinned woman in their dialect. The two argue momentarily and then the brown haired woman finishes with a clear phrase that SG-1 can understand, "They are outsiders."

The other woman shakes her head and says, "So were Ranma and her allies once. Besides they are SG-1 of the Tau'ri."

As Jack says, "Hey, what's going on?" Daniel blinks at the name and looks at the girl. She shoots him a glance as if to say, "_took you long enough_"

Ranma looks at him and says, "Neith ain't so keen on you guys coming with us, but Mala here is the in favor of it. Despite what Neith thinks we do kinda need your help."

Mala nods and says, "Please…we knew you'd be here."

Teal'c stoically responds with a simple, "How?"

Mala looks at him with a knowing glint and says, "Our intelligence network runs deep within the Jaffa of Moloc. We came to ask for help. I promise you will be safe."

Daniel looks t the others and says, "They did save us, and we may have just stumbled on the source of those rumors we've heard about the mystical tria who have come to help bring Jaffa out of bondage."

* * *

A short time later the group of female Jaffa exits the Stargate with SG-1 in tow. There are female Jaffa on horses and others waiting for their return.

As they walk forward Mala turns back to SG-1 as they arrive and says, "Welcome to Hak'tyl."

In a whisper Daniel says to Teal'c, "Independence?"

The response is a simple, "Liberation." While Mala continues walking and says, "Our dwellings are this way ... please."

But Jack shakes his head and says, "Well, you know, we really should call home first. Let the folks know where we are. It's past our curfew."

Mala allows it and can be heard arguing with Neith for a moment. She sends the brown haired woman ahead and waits while Samantha dials Earth and lets them know about their change in plans.

Sometime later SG-1 and the Jaffa are walking to the Jaffa camp. Colonel O'Neil looks to Teal'c and says, "So, Teal'c…who are they?'

Teal'c gives a ghost of a shrug and says, ""My knowledge of the Goa'uld, Moloc, is limited. However, I am unaware of any Goa'uld that would permit his women Jaffa to be warriors."

Daniel replies, "They seem to be well trained."

Teal'c looks at Daniel and says, "All females receive training. They are expected to defend their home world with their lives when their men are called to battle."

The shaggy brown haired man says, "Can't help but think of the ancient Greek Amazon mythos."

Ranma who had been nearby hears the comment and laughs saying, "No way are they Amazons. Bet even Pink and Link mighta had a decent shot at taking most of 'em down."

Mala looks at her and Ranma looks back saying, "Sorry Mala, just tellin' it like it is. You guys still need some major training"

The lithe woman sighs and nods, then keeps walking. Soon enough, they are led into a camp. There are many more women and children in the camp. The younger ones run to take comfort from the older women.

A blond woman emerges from one of the dwellings. Flanking her on either side are a woman with pink hair and one with dark black hair. They seem to hold no weapons in their hands and yet something suggests that they are a threat anyway.

Mala introduces the woman saying, "This is Ishta, our leader." When Mala finishes speaking Ishta descends the steps from the dwelling to approach SG-1. The brown haired woman from their previous encounter emerges behind her.

O'Neill starts to speak diplomatically saying, "Well, howdy, ma'am ... it's nice to meet you. I heard so ..." then puts his foot in his mouth, "actually, I've heard nothing about ... you."

Luckily the woman seems to hear none of it, ignoring him and walking straight to Teal'c. Her blue eyes meet his dark orbs as she says, "Teal'c ... of Chulak ... former first prime of Apophis. You are the Shol'va who has become a legend nearly as great as that of our own Tria."

Jack rolls his eyes and says to Sam and Daniel, "That's a bit thick, don't you think?"

"I am no legend. I fight as any true-hearted Jaffa for the freedom that we deserve." He bows his head slightly and she does the same in response. Then he directs her attention to the rest of SG-1 saying "This is Daniel Jackson, Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill." She walks down the length of them, stopping just in front of Jack.

He starts another greeting, but she just says, "I have asked you here so that I may propose an alliance."

Jack nods saying, "Well, that's a fine idea. We should sit, talk, nosh ..."

Teal breaks him off with an angry, "No alliance can be formed between the Tau'ri and those who would steal symbiotes from their brother and leave him to die."

With anger apparent in her voice Neith breaks in saying, "He was no brother of mine. Just a murderer of innocent children."

The blond haired woman shouts, "Shel kree!" Neith stops immediately, but the tension in the air is very clear. Ishta seems to take that in mind as she says, "There is much to discuss." She looks to her side and a young girl comes over to stand with her. She smiles on her and says, "This is Syn'ac. This morning, she lay on her death bed. She reached the age of Prata three days ago."

Jack looked to Daniel with some confusion and the scholar said, "Puberty."

Jack nods while Ishta continues saying, "Without the symbiote we procured this morning, she would be dead now." She looks to her side and another young girl comes to stand with her. "This is Nesa, younger sister to Neith. She is next to reach the age. Without a symbiote, she will die ... as will all our children."

* * *

Samantha ended up going with the women and speaking to them as an emissary. In a small tent she sat with, Beryl, Neith, Mala and Ishta in one of the dwellings sitting on the floor around a low table.

The blond haired woman began her tale, "Thirty years ago, Moloc decreed that only male children would be allowed to live. Only they could strengthen his armies and lead him to victory in the war of the gods."

Carter looked perplexed and said, "Well, aside from the obvious immorality, that doesn't make sense. How do you sustain a population of any gender without women?"

Ishta looked at her and said, "Women were taken whenever he raided the other system lords and the Jaffa lifespan is longer than humans. This could go on for a hundred years. Any female child is to be sacrificed in the ceremony of fire, immediately after they are born."

The implications of that revelation stunned Samantha Carter for a moment. Despite knowing how evil and cruel the System Lords were she hadn't quite been prepared for that level of cruelty.

Outside, Daniel, Jack and Teal'c are talking to Hotaru while Ranma has gone off to help a group of the female Jaffa train. The black haired woman is saying, "We started out searching the galaxy for a device we need, but it was very hard to do so without skill in the language out here. It was I suppose a lucky break that we rescued a group of them and they decided to bring us here."

She chuckled lightly at a memory and said, "Ranma was in female form or else things would have gone rather poorly in the beginning. Even without that it took some time before we learned their language and they learned to trust us and allow us to help them."

Inside the tent Carter was saying, "So, how did you start bringing the children here?"

The blond haired woman said softly, "As a temple high priestess, part of my duty is to keep record of births ... and to preside over the ceremony of fire itself. I could not sit back and watch my sisters be murdered and do nothing. As high priestess, I, along with my seconds, Mala and Neith, are allowed relatively free access to the Chappa'ai of the worlds under Moloc's rule."

"No one outside this camp knows you're doing this?" Carter responded attempting to understand in full.

Ishta shook her head and said, "No. Our duties require us to attend to many missionary matters on various planets."

Carter seemed very interested as she said, "So you offer the parents of these children a chance for their daughters to live."

Ishta simple shakes her head and says, "No, all but a few Jaffa under Moloc worship him religiously. Not even the parents can be trusted. The children have to be spirited away, secretly, for fear we'd be reported to the imperial guard. Luckily for us we have found Ranma, Beryl and Hotaru who have become our Tria and helped us immensely with their ability to become nearly invisible and so we have succeeded in saving many from their birthright of death."

Carter looked at her closely wondering just what these women needed as she said, "So you want our help to overthrow Moloc?"

Ishta looked at her with some surprise and said, "Our Tria has asked us the same thing when they learned our language, but the answer is still the same. Moloc is very powerful and his armies are vast."

Carter shrugged and perhaps bragged slightly as she said, "We have our ways ... and some very powerful allies."

Beryl broke in and said, "Ishta, please listen to her as you may not have us. They can help you overthrow Moloc and help bring weapons, food, and supplies. It does not need to be one thing or the other. Especially if they can help us gain access to the artifact that we have been searching for."

Ishta thought about it a moment and looked to Carter saying, "We are proud warriors, but we need the Goa'uld right now. We offer you our services and our knowledge in return for your help. We have an extensive intelligence network among the Jaffa under Moloc."

Carter looked to Beryl and then back at Ishta "What if I were to offer you an alternative?"

Mala spoke first saying, "An alternative to what?"

Carter smiled knowing that she had a solution to at least one problem, "To your reliance on the Goa'uld." The women in the tent looked at her in askance and she began to explain to them about Tretonin and how it could help them survive without a Goa'uld symbiote.

* * *

Ranma had finished training a group of Jaffa and sat next to Beryl and Hotaru, the three watched as Teal'c wandered off into the woods and then Ishta followed after. Ranma laughed once and said, "Looks like Ishta has a thing for that Teal'c guy."

Hotaru replied, "Oh, you think so? I thought she was just going to ask him about the Tretonin"

Ranma shook his head and said, "Nope, these girls here may not quite be Amazon material in the fighting department, but she definitely had that look about her. The one Shampoo used ta get when she wanted ta glomp me."

Beryl fluttered her lashes and gave the redhead the exact same look and proceeded to glomp her. Hotaru joined in and they were happy and giggles for a time. When the hug and cuddle fest was done Ranma said seriously, "We still haven't been able to steal one of those Alkesh yet, but I know the USA went to the moon once in my world. I sure hope they can help us get there at least…"

Beryl replied saying, "A true irony. We can use the Time Gate to travel across the entire galaxy, but the planets of the solar system are not within our reach."

Hotaru added, "Well it seemed like a good idea when we began, but most of our leads didn't pan out or, like that one called Proclarush Teonas, they had poisonous atmospheres."

Ranma nodded and was going to respond when Ishta called everyone together for a large gathering. All of the female Jaffa and SG-1 were there when she proclaimed, "No longer will we need to lose our sisters in battle. No longer will our daughters be dependent on symbiotes. Teal'c ... has taken the drug. He stands here before you as evidence. I am asking for four volunteers to travel with me to the Tau'ri to test its effectiveness."

After several seconds no has stepped forward, then Mala comes forward and says, "You must not go."

Ishta shakes her head and says, "Mala, I have made my decision."

"Hak'tyl needs you." Mala argues, "You are our leader. I will go in your stead. It is my right as Kin'dra. You cannot say no."

Ishta sighs lightly and says, "You are brave and true."

Another Jaffa steps forward and says, "I too will go."

Two others step forward and Ishta smiles. Then she looks at Neith and Neith casts her eyes down, not wanting to look at Ishta. Ishta walks to stand in front of Neith. Nesa is at Neith's side. Ishta looks at Nesa and says, "Nesa is of the age ..."

"She is a child." Neith growls lightly.

"I'm told it's not without risk." Ishta bargains desperately, "but if there is one among us ..."

Neith cuts her off angrily saying, "Never! That you would even consider this is an affront to all of us."

Ishta frowns and says, "Your words are disrespectful." But, Neith does not respond. Instead she turns, touches Nesa's shoulder and walks away with Nesa following her.

By now the four volunteers, Ranma, Beryl and Hotaru are at Ishta's side and she looks at them, then back to SG-1 saying, "I cannot force her hand."

She looks to her volunteers and the Tria and says, "I wish you well."

* * *

In the S.G.C Gate room Sam and Jack come through the 'gate with the four volunteer Jaffa and the Tria. General Hammond is at the base of the ramp to greet them. "Dr. Jackson? Teal'c?"

Jack shrugs and smiles slightly saying, "As Teal'c would say ... undomesticated equines couldn't drag him away ..."

Carter rolls her eyes and smiles as well saying, "The leader of the Hak'tyl wanted to learn more about the rebel Jaffa. We figured we could send updates on the progress of the tretonin treatment and the Tria here to Daniel through the MALP."

"Kind of a P. R. thing, sir." Jack adds slyly.

Hammond nods slightly and then turns his attention to their visitors. "I'm General Hammond. Welcome to Earth." The four Jaffa nod slightly in greeting while Ranma looks back at the General and says, "Well the reception was a lot better this time General."

Jack breaks in saying, "Well that's the difference between being invited in and breaking in…"

Hammnod looks at him in askance, then to Ranma and her friends saying, "Well we'll get the four Jaffa situated and then discuss your situation. How does that sound?"

It doesn't take long before the three are sitting across from Hammond, carter, and Jack in the briefing room. Beryl has been tasked as the diplomat in this situation and is speaking of their situation saying, "So, once we were accepted we had pretty much given up on finding the artifact we were searching for originally and just began taking missions to help out. They already had seen some of what we could do, but once we were able to move about with absolute secrecy and impunity we began to be called the mystical Tria."

Carter nodded and said, "So you never explained the gender switching thing at all then?"

Ranma shrugged and said, "It's pretty easy enough to avoid hot water when there isn't any available for much more than soup. Still we did end up telling Ishta and Mala so that they'd know just in case."

Jack added with some confusion, "and what's a Tria anyway?"

"A group of three women." Beryl stated, then added, "In this case something more than the Jaffa had ever seen before so they deemed us mystical."

General Hammond nodded and said, "So what is it that you three need from us then?"

Beryl replied, "We need…" she paused to brush a pink hair out of her eyes, "Space suits really. We are pretty sure that we can retrieve an Alkesh and probably fly it, but without the Space Suits we will be unable to retrieve the artifact."

Jack looked at her in askance and said, "I thought you said all of your leads were a bust so you gave up looking?"

Beryl shook her head and said, "They were a bust only because we did not have the technology to search them all and that is where you come in."

Jack frowned lightly and said, "You helped us once before, but you're being rather scanty in the details on what this artifact is. How do we know you won't take whatever this artifact is and use it against us?"

Beryl looked at him, then said, "You you have already offered to help the people that we are allied with. Despite any misunderstanding in the past surely you must realize that we would prefer to be your allies."

Jack nodded and says, "Well it still seems pretty odd to me that you guys had enough technology to force our gate open, but can't make some space suits…"

Beryl frowned and looked somewhat stung as she said, "Yes I am quite aware of the irony." In her mind she once again reviewed numerous attempt to use what was left over at the Palace on Pluto to create personal shields or some way to survive in vacuum, but without utterly destroying an important part of the power generator or the holographic AI there was just not enough usable material left after so much time has passed. As it was they were had been pulling things apart just to ensure that those two devices were up and running.

The group sat a few moments and then Hammond looked at some papers and said, "I'll have to talk with someone we have at NASA and then we'll get back to you. In the meantime I hope you'll stay and help the Jaffa get situated here." With that he stood up and the meeting adjourned.

* * *

While things are happening on earth Daniel Jackson befriends Nesa on Hak'tyl while Teal'c and Ishta become something more than friends. Back on Earth Hammond has been able to get three spacesuits, but Mala is not doing well and has been placed in isolation.

Sam and Dr. Fraiser open the door to the isolation room and find young Hotaru visiting Mala. Sam speaks softly saying, "Do you mind if we speak to her?"

Hotaru looks up and is about to leave when Mala says, "It's okay, whatever you need to say can be heard by a member of the Tria. Besides, I think what you have to say has something to do with the fact that you have moved me away from the others because you did not wish to frighten them."

Samantha shakes her head and says, "No, the truth is, you're not doing so well. You're more susceptible to infection in your condition."

Understanding alights in Mala's eyes and she says, "How are the others responding to treatment?"

Carter replies trying to lighten the other woman's load with the truth, "They are doing Good ... very good."

Suddenly, Mala closes her eyes and starts making a wheezing sound as alarms go off on the equipment monitoring her condition. Carter looks to the doctor and says quickly, "Janet?"

Fraiser comes over and starts checking her over. A nurse joins them and says, "Her B. P. is 60 over 40 ..."

Janet responds, "Give her a bolus ..." Then looks at the monitors and says sadly, "We have to put her symbiote back."

Mala Grabs Sam's arm and says, "Do not!"

Carter responds with concern, "But, If we don't, you could die."

Mala shakes her head and says, "No, this must work if my people are to be free. If I continue to be enslaved by the Goa'uld I carried, I am as good as dead ... please ..." Even as Mala speaks her last and loses consciousness Hotaru has placed her hands on the woman's body. Hotaru's glow lightly with power as the young woman pours healing power into Mala.

The nurse nearby stares at the scene with awe and says, "Her blood pressure is rising…" Dr. Frasier hears that and looks at other medical instruments. Her eyes go wide…

Sam is watching the scene and looks to Janet saying, "What...what is it?" There is a hitch of hesitance and near awe in her voice as if she might already know.

Frasier responds, "Her vital signs are getting better, we may not need to put the symbiote back in…"

Hotaru smiles at hearing that and then falls to the floor. The scene becomes a different sort of chaos as Frasier rushes to the girl and checks her pulse, "Her pulse is weak. We need to get her into a bed quickly, whatever she was doing might have healed Mala, but it was not good for her."

* * *

Hotaru wakes up in a hospital bed. Ranma is in a chair next to her sleeping, while Beryl is pacing back and forth. When the pink haired woman notices that Hotaru is awake she quickly rushes toward her side and hugs her close saying, "What were you thinking!"

The commotion wakes Ranma and she gets up and says, "Yeah, you gave us a scare usin' all of your _chi _up like that."

Hotaru said softly, "She was dying, Doctor-san and Carter were saying so just behind me. They said that she would have to have as you would say 'that disgusting snake' placed back in her. So, I used my healing power on her. I didn't think it would drain me so much."

Ranma nodded and said, "Yeah, well it used ta be that you could tap into magic remember. Now all ya got is your _chi_, which is pretty strong, but it ain't nearly as strong as mine yet. Plus you were pumping out full blast which is what made ya faint like that."

Hotaru nodded and said, "I'm sorry…"

Beryl smiled and said, "It's okay, just try not to do that again okay?" Even as she finished Ranma added, "and eat as much food as you can. You need ta replenish yourself. We ain't going anywhere until you're feeling better."

The young black haired girl nodded and drifted off to sleep while her companions kept watch.

---break---

Back on Hak'tyl things are spinning somewhat out of control. Neith has challenged Ishta for the right to lead and has been defeated. Ishta stands over the defeated woman with a charged staff weapon pointed at her head. Teal'c looks at the blond haired woman and says, "Ishta! Ishta!"

Ishta frowns and says, "You dare interfere? She challenged me, it is my right!"

Teal'c comes closer and says, "It is also your right to grant mercy."

Daniel comes rushing up. "Excuse me!" He stops and catches his breath, then continues, "I just wanted you all to know that Mala is on her way to a full recovery. Apparently Hotaru did something and now the Tretonin is working."

Ishta looks down at Neith and says, "You see, the Tria has helped us again. Perhaps it is time we actually listened for a change…"

Neith slowly stands up and says, "I…I just don't know." She glances at the Stargate and then walks off on her own.

Sometime later Hotaru, Ranma, and Beryl are exiting the gate onto Hak'tyl to get the information they need and finish preparations for their attempt to retrieve an Alkesh. They are met at the gate by Neith who says, "I wish to come with you."

Ranma starts somewhat surprised by the request and then says, "I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

Neith shakes her head and says, "You need someone who can pilot an Alkesh. You might need backup or someone with a staff weapon to help you. I can be that person for you…" she pauses and looks at them pleading, "please…"

Ranma looks to the other two and Beryl says, "Well you only have experience with the vehicles in that one place, what was its name?"

"Coruscant…" Ranma provided remembering her training in piloting from a clone trooper that later attempted to kill her. She sighed and said, "Yeah we haven't had a chance to see how similar these Alkesh are to those vehicles. I suppose we could use a pilot."

Neith seemed happy at his statement and the red haired girl looked at her seriously saying, "Just, take our lead and be careful okay?"

Neith nodded and the group went back to the camp on Hak'tyl where they gained the rest of the information on the Alkesh they planned to steal from one of Moloc's worlds.

* * *

Neith looked around her. The landing pad was shrouded in darkness and shadows and her companions seemed to be entirely invisible. A frown of annoyance reached her face as she realized just how much she would need to train in order to access the technique the Tria was using. Instead she was forced to wear dark colors and hide in the shadows as she watched the Jaffa crew unload the Alkesh.

Minutes later they were done with the unloading and four of them walked off, while one took a last inventory. This was her chance! She rushed out of her hiding spot and blasted him taking him down with a single shot, then moving quickly to the vehicle and dragging his body into it.

Behind her a voice said, "Ah man! We gotta get out of here quick! Come on Neith take the controls and let's go." She recognized the voice as Ranma's and she shook her head slightly.

"Not yet, I must retrieve his symbiote." Neith replied as she reached for what she needed.

"What?" Ranma responded with confusion, "I thought you guys weren't doing that anymore now that the drug works?"

Neith pulled the symbiote out and started to put it in the jar she had brought when a blast hit her and she went down dropping it with a horrified, "No!"

Beryl and Hotaru sent Vaccum blades of power back at the Jaffa who were attacking and Ranma grabbed Neith and helped her into the Alkesh. Just as she entered another Neith pushed the button that closed the cargo hatch, but was hit in the shoulder by another blast as the doors were closing and went down.

"Look after her!" Ranma called as she rushed to the controls of the vehicle. Silence pervaded the landing pad for a few minutes as the Jaffa sent blast after blast into the hull of the ship.

Ranma was examining the controls with a desperate look in her eyes as Beryl said, "We need to get out of here Ranma."

"I know, I know…." She hastily grabbed some of the controls thanking herself for learning the written word of these people as well as the spoken while they were in camp. "I think this is what we need."

The red haired girl grabbed the Peltak and shoved on it making the Alkesh lurch up into the sky where it was hit by another blast of power. "Beryl was next to the girl focusing on some other readouts and saying, "There seem to be at least five death gliders out there about to close on our position."

The Alkesh quickly gained speed and shot out of the planet's atmosphere. "That ought to lose them!" Ranma said with glee.

Her glee was utterly killed when she noticed an entire Goa'uld mothership sitting in space in front of them with a mass of death gliders disgorging from it. "Oh crap!"

The Alkesh moved in the opposite direction and Ranma fiddled with a number of buttons, "Come on where is it?!"

Beryl said, "You concentrate on dodging. I'll look for the controls that will send us into hyperspace."

Ranma called back to Hotaru, who was still with Neith, "You see any weapons we can use on our pursuers back there?"

Hotaru shook her head and said, "I haven't had a chance to look. She's losing a lot of blood and needs healing badly."

"Don't use too much of your _chi_ reserves, you just replenished them okay!" Ranma shot back as she maneuvered the Alkesh to dodge yet another blast of fire from the pursuing ships.

"Will do!" Hotaru called back and was then forced to grab onto something as the ship suddenly shot forward and Beryl shouted, "Found it!"

Sometime later in the SGC Infirmary, Jack, Sam, Ranma, Beryl, and Hotaru are watching from the observation room as Janet works on Neith. Ishta and Teal'c are in the room with her.

Dr. Frasier says seriously, "I don't know how much longer I can keep her alive. If we're going to administer the tretonin, it's now or never."

Teal'c whispers to Ishta and the woman moves to stand beside Neith's bed and leans down slightly to look into her face. "Neith ..." the curly brown haired woman's eyes flicker open, "Your symbiote is dying."

Neith looks sad and says, "You must procure another."

Ishta shakes her head and says, "How can you say that? You volunteer to help the Tria and yet you do not realize that those ways are over?"

The woman in the bed sighs and says, "You sentence me to death, but please convey my apologies. I should not have tricked them."

Ishta looks down and says, "I have sentenced you to nothing. You are the one who has a choice to live or die." Neith turns away defiantly. Ishta closes her eyes and accepts defeat.

She leaves and goes to the observation room saying, "She will not listen to me do you think you three can convince her?"

Ranma shrugs and says, "I don't know…"

Just then, Daniel and Nesa come into the room and Daniel says, "Well, maybe she'll listen to her sister."

Nesa walks to stand were Ishta was seconds before. The young girl looks to her sister and says, "Please, Neith ..."

Neith coughs and says, "You disobeyed me and betrayed me."

The young girl shakes her head and says, "No ... you betray me. Since before I can remember, you have taught me to believe in our freedom. You said you would do anything so that you might protect me. One day, I will be a great warrior like you. But I am not yet. I still need you. I have chosen to live free. You must choose to take the tretonin, if you are to continue to teach and protect me. Please ... I do not wish you to die." When the small girl is done talking Neith reaches up and touches Nesa's cheek, then smiles a little. Nesa bends down and gives her a hug.

* * *

Back on Hak'tyl the Alkesh, hidden in some vegetation, was being loaded by Ranma, Beryl, and Hoatru. The three were speaking together and as Beryl said, "I thought it was very nice that the one called Teal'c kissed Ishta. She could use someone like him."

Ranma just shrugged and said, "I guess so, it still bugs me that Neith went and did that to us though…" he looked off a moment and then added, "But, she did apologize and started takin' the Tretonin, so I guess we're good."

Hotaru smiled and said, "Don't forget that she gave us flying lessons too."

Ranma nodded and finished stowing their space suits. "So are we ready to go?"

A somewhat sarcastic voice said, "Not yet, you're forgetting something."

Ranma looked over and saw Jack O'Neill and frowned lightly saying, "What would that be Colonel?"

He gave the red head a somewhat smarmy grin and said, "Us…seems Ishta felt she owed us one and so she gave us permission to go with you guys."

Ranma frowned lightly as she thought about the new situation. Sure the SG-1 seemed like it wanted to help the Hak'tyl and had even provided quite a bit of help, but that didn't change the fact that they had captured Ranma and her allies. It also didn't change the fact that in a different world the U.S. government had been after Ranma and her allies and people in a complex very similar to the SG-1 had developed Skynet.

Hotaru looked to Ranma and said softly, "Different universe and different people my love."

The red head nodded and said, "All right they can come…" she looked at the four and added, "Just remember we're in charge on this so you follow our orders. Do you think you can do that?"

"Whatever you say General…" Jack said in a sarcastic tone. Without a thought Ranma responded with her 'John Conner' voice of authority, "Best keep a serious tone Colonel or I'll make sure you become a Lieutenant in no time…"

Jack just grinned and SG-1 entered the Alkesh, but Sam had heard the change in Ranma and whispered, "She sounded like General Hammond for a moment why do you think that is?"

The others weren't sure and soon enough the Alkesh was out of Hak'tyl's atmosphere and headed towards the Tauri solar system. It didn't take too long before the vehicle appeared outside the orbit of Neptune. Samantha spoke first as she saw the sight saying, "That's Neptune. What are we doing in our solar system?"

Ranma ignored her to look at Beryl and say, "You getting anything?"

The woman looked down a strange cobbled together device and said, "No…from what I can tell everything fell into the center of the planet. Theirs is nothing floating in the clouds or on any of the moons."

Ranma nodded and said, "Right…next stop then."

"Wait," Carter said with some annoyance, "You didn't answer my question."

Ranma looked back at the woman from her position at the Peltak and said, "No, we didn't answer your question did we…" The red head paused then thought a few moments more.

Finally she decided on her words choosing them carefully, "We are searching here, because it might be the best place to find the item we're looking for as well as anything else."

After answering the question Ranma piloted the vehicle into hyperspace and then out again. The vehicle was now outside the orbit of Uranus, but once again there was nothing. The same thing was true at Saturn and Jupiter, but when they arrived at mars there was some activity.

Looking at her device Beryl said, "I don't know there's something down there from the Silver millennium, but it's not much."

Ranma nodded and said, "Alright, I guess we'll have to go take a look. Can you make the rings work?"

Beryl nodded and Sam added, "I can help with that."

The two quickly made some adjustments and the device was ready. Soon after that everyone was in space suits and ready to go. Beryl sat at her position near the rings saying, "All right I'll send you down and direct you from here. I'll need the ship's energy to power the device and help lead you to the source of power."

Ranma and Hotaru gave her a thumbs up and the Rings popped up, and then sent them down to the surface. Moments later they arrived next to the crumbled ruin of what had once been a highly sophisticated castle. It was sitting in the shadow of a mountain and looking out onto the desolate surface of Mars. Hotaru led the way into the ship following Beryl's directions with Ranma and SG-1 behind her.

Instead of leading into the crumbling ruin of the castle the signal kept the group outside where they came upon a silver obelisk with writing on it. Hotaru examined a plaque on the obelisk and said, "Here lies the princess of Mars. She died to help protect us all from Pharaoh 90."

Above the plaque was a simple pedestal and a henshin pen. Hotaru took it in hand and said, "This is probably what is giving us the energy signature, but without a DNA and Magical match it's useless."

Carter approached and looked at the item saying, "What is it?"

Ranma shook her head and said, "Not what we were looking for. It's basically useless."

Carter took out her own instruments and tested the device. Looking at her instruments from her helmet she called on her radio to the rest of SG-1 saying, "According to my instruments it doesn't have any power at all."

Hotaru waited until Sam was done and took the pen back. She placed it back on its pedestal and said, "We'll let her rest in peace then. Sayonara Mars-san, may your next journey be filled with happiness."

Soon after the group was transported back up to the Alkesh. Once they had arrived and Ranma and her team were back in the control area Jack motioned to his team to stay behind and spoke saying, "If I remember right Ranma there asked for some pens that looked a lot like that one when she was imprisoned at the SGC."

Carter nodded saying, "We gave it to her too and that's just the thing sir. As far as I could tell the pen here on Mars and the ones we gave them were entirely without power, but that can't be right because somehow they detected it."

Daniel broke in saying, "added to our mystery is the fact that the plaque was written in ancient. So who are these people…" he paused a moment and then looked toward the front of the craft, "I wonder if they actually are ancients?"

Teal'c stood and looked impassive while Jack looked to Daniel and said, "But, I thought you said all the ancients ascended."

Daniel shrugged and said, "I think I said that as far as I knew they had ascended…" he paused to gather his thoughts and Carter broke in saying, "Look at what we have seen them do sir, they throw power blasts without weapons, move at incredibly high speeds, are incredibly strong, and can be seemingly invisible. Plus, the one transforms into a girl with water. They called it magic, but I think that's a clear indication that they are more than human."

Jack looked at the two of them and said, "So what do you think maybe they were kicked out like Daniel was for interfering?"

Carte started to say, "It's possible. What do you think Daniel?"

Daniel shrugged and said, "As far as I know no one talked about them. That doesn't mean they weren't descended, but I can't be sure."

Jack nodded and said, "Well as long as they are on our side I guess."

Sam added, "Me too sir…and I wonder why they didn't go to Pluto?"

The question was left hanging and soon enough SG-1 was back in the front of the ship and near the controls while Ranma took the ship to Venus where they found nothing again. Then, another trip took them to the Moon and again they found nothing at all. The final stop was Mercury and this time Beryl said, "I'm getting a reading…"

Ranma wiped some sweat from her brow and said, "Where?"

Beryl replied, "It's on the surface, but not currently pointing towards the sun."

Carter looked serious and said, "That's good because these suits are only rated for plus 121 degrees Celsius and it can be over 420 degrees in the sun on Mercury."

Jack looked at her with a perplexed expression and she said, "Seven hundred and twenty two sir."

Jack nodded and he said, "So, now that we know we won't be charbroiled should we head on down?"

Soon enough the same party that had investigated on Mars was arriving on Mercury. There they saw a large ship smashed into a large rock wall. They approached the vehicle and could easily see its name written in ancient on its side, "Deimos"

The approached closer and it was clear that despite some at the vehicle's front section, the rest was in near pristine condition. They came to a door and Hoatru said, "It seems to be closed…" she approached closely and examined a pad next to the door and continued saying, "I think I can open it."

Ranma nodded in her suit, and then realized Hotaru couldn't see that and said, "Go ahead hon I got your back."

Hotaru proceeded to use the controls and the sounds of an airlock cycling could be heard. Soon after the door opened and everyone walked inside, then the door closed behind them and the air lock cycled again.

From their radios Beryl's voice could be heard saying, "The instruments here tell me that the pressure level is somewhat low, but it should be alright to take off your suits, though…"

"Got it, "Ranma said, and then proceeded to take her helmet off. She breathed in a few times and looked somewhat green, "Ugh…it smells like something died in here."

"The air may be somewhat stale…" Replied Beryl with some laughter in her voice.

Ranma grinned a bit while everyone else was taking off their suits and making the same face, the he added, "So, any idea where the artifact is. The hall has lighting and the air lock worked so there must be something powering this place."

Hotaru looked at the red haired girl and said, "Wait…we should check the bridge first."

Ranma shrugged and said, "Alright we can do that." Then she followed behind Hotaru as the girl led them to a small bridge area. Ancient bodies were strewn to the forward area and nearly crushed beyond recognition.

The group looked at the bodies and Jack said, "Why are they all piled up like that?"

Hotaru was staring at the carnage and said timidly, "I...I'm not quite sure."

Ranma stared at it and said softly, "I…am…it's from the failure of the inertial dampeners." Her mind was remembering Taya's life and an accident from her own time. She had been Sailor Sol at the time and even then she had suffered broken ribs and contusions from crashing through at least three walls and a bulkhead. The crewmembers had not been so lucky.

Ranma snapped out of her reverie and took Hotaru in hand facing her away from the carnage and saying, "So what do you need here?"

The younger girl looked at Ranma and said, "The bridge controls the entire ship. If we could get it working, then we could have the whole ship…" She paused hesitating as she looked at the bodies again.

Ranma noted her glance and said, "Yeah we would need ta make sure we don't end up like that. But, we could just get the artifact we need and not worry about it…" Ranma trailed off knowing that neither she nor her allies would leave this universe at the mercy of the Goa'uld threat. Instead she changed courses and said, "Why don't we have Beryl come down and we can work on that and see if it's possible okay?"

Hotaru nodded and Sam broke in saying, "What about the artifact you need?"

Ranma grinned at her and said, "We'll just take it with us."

Daniel whispered to the others saying, "This is an ancient ship…" Jack nodded and said to Ranma, "I don't remember our deal including allowing you to take an ancient ship or did you think you'd just sneak that one by us?"

Hotaru huffed lightly and said, "We are the closest to the people who once owned this ship, we certainly have the right to use it."

"Besides," added Ranma. "You need allies too and with us in this ship you'd have some pretty powerful allies to call on when you need 'em."

Carter, Teal'c and Jackson looked to Colonel O'Neill and he said, "Alright we'll do it your way. Carter can you help them get this thing online and working?"

"I think so sir." Carter said with a look of happiness at the challenge of working with Ancient technology.

"You too Daniel," Jack added continuing on by saying, "You have a working knowledge of the language, so help Carter and these guys if you can."

He looked to Teal'c and said, "Sorry Teal'c, but you're with me. We're going to move the bodies…"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow and said simply, "Indeed."

* * *

Finding a single Zero point energy module powering the Deimos would have made Beryl happy, but finding another in storage was beyond their wildest expectations. Upon her discovery of the device Beryl had put it back and immediately informed Ranma and Hotaru who were also very happy to hear the news.

With a smile on her face Ranma said, "So, with that and the repairs we've made we should have something here. The only question left is the inertial dampeners we took from the Alkesh going to be enough for this ship?"

Beryl shook her head and said, "Only enough to make the bridge area somewhat comfortable at a maximum potential of three gravities and the rest of the ship will experience at up to eight or nine gravities of acceleration, so loose items will need to be either, strapped down or, removed."

"Alright then, let's get SG-1 and see if this thing will fly." Ranma said. Meanwhile SG-1 had been having their own conversation at the same time.

"I've never seen anything like it sir. Sure, it's theoretically possible, but an actual Zero Point Energy Module…" she paused trying to find words for just how amazing the find was, "Well I don't think that even the Asgard have that sort of technology."

"Right…" Jack said looking somewhat clueless, "So how powerful is this ZPM thingy?"

Carter looked unsure of herself and said, "Conceivably it could power the entire U.S. and still have power left over to fly this ship."

The Colonel looked around at the bulkheads and then said, "So what is the extra power for then?"

Teal'c responded by saying, "I would suggest that it is most likely used for the weapons and shielding systems."

Jack frowned and said, "That's a lot of power…" He sighed and then said, "I hope we're doing the right thing by trusting these people."

Daniel broke in at that point saying, "Just one more think Jack. The writings and logs that I could find in this ship suggest a different origin that most ancient writings. The makers of this ship were something different from the ancients as we know them."

"Get to the point Daniel." Jack said, cutting the other man off.

Daniel stopped himself in mid stream and said, "Simply put, this ship and the people who controlled it were the ancestors to the Alterrans."

Jack looked at him and said, "So they were ancient Ancients?"

Daniel sighed and said, "Something like that."

The conversation broke up and SG-1 joined the Tria on the bridge of the Deimos after securing everything that they could, and having a brief ceremony/burial on Mercury's surface for all the people who had died on the ship.

Ranma sat in the center seat, while the others sat around different control chairs. "Everyone strapped in?" She asked.

The answer was a resounding affirmative and so she said, "Alright then first stop is Earth, let's do it!"

Hotaru sat at the navigation controls and said, "It's been some time, but I think I can do it." She moved the controls trying to remember a past life where she had done some piloting of ships just like the Deimos and soon enough the ship lifted into space. She smiled happily at being able to maneuver the ship and Beryl gave her a thumbs up and then moved some of the controls at her own station. The ship jumped into hyperspace pushing everyone into their chairs with three gravities of acceleration for a few brief moments and then the ship suddenly stopped flinging everyone forward into their restraints at nearly the same power upon its deceleration.

After recovering themselves from the ordeal everyone looked at the view screen. There in front of them was Earth. Ranma smiled and said, "Well there's Earth, do you want us to teleport you down?"

Jack O'Neill stood up and motioned to the rest of his team. This was the point; either he trusted these people or he started another front in their wars. He frowned lightly and said, "Yeah, alright beam us down."

Hotaru nodded and made a few motions on her console. Moments later SG-1 was gone and the Deimos was on its way to Pluto.

Back in the SGC Jack looked to his companions and said, "I think we should dial up their Stargate to…" he grinned as if he was winning a game, "make sure that they got home okay."

Carter nodded and said, "We'll get right on it sir." She walked off with Daniel behind her saying, "I think it should be in the database, I know I entered it from the last time we saw them."

Sometime later on Pluto the spare ZPM was being placed in its receptacle. "So now we have that all we need to do is start up the Time Gate with it right?"

Beryl and Hotaru nodded while the green haired hologram said, "That is corr…" she broke off her sentence to state, "Incoming Stargate protection initiated."

A shield of pure force appeared around the Time Gate preventing a wormhole from fully forming. Soon enough the shield disappeared and the hologram said, "Proceed with Time Gate activation?"

Ranma was about to respond in the affirmative when the 'gate activated again and another shield was thrown up. The red haired girl said, "Why don't we wait…"

The hologram nodded and then said, "I believe I am receiving a transmission this time. Would you like me to relay?"

"Yeah go ahead," Said the red haired girl with some annoyance.

"This is Stargate Command we are requesting peaceful dialogue." Came the voice on the other end.

Ranma looked annoyed and said, "Tell them everything is fine here and that we'll allow them to come see us tomorrow."

The hologram relayed the message and the shield deactivated along with the wormhole attempt. Hotaru smiled at that and said, "Now all we need to do is…" she grinned even wider and said with authority, "Begin Time Gate Activation!"

"Acknowledged, beginning Time Gate activation sequence." The hologram spoke and soon afterward immense energies poured into the Time Gate, soon enough there was an explosion of energy within the confines and everyone present could hear the all too familiar voice of the Time Gate itself saying, "Time Guardians Ranma, Beryl, and Hotaru it is good to see that you have not discorporated."

Ranma was saying, "Yeah, no thanks to you." While Hotaru was already activating her transformation. Beryl followed suit and Ranma looked to them and said, "Right…" Moments later the red haired girl was transformed as well.

Beryl nodded to Sol and touched her skirt as she said, "Did you notice the green stripe in your outfit?"

"Yeah, you and Saturn have one too. Probably not perfect fashion or somethin' but I guess I know what it means."

The Time Gate responded by saying, "That is correct you are now the Guardians of Pluto as well as your own planets and have full access to my powers as well. Since you have already seen the dangers of tampering with a time stream the only other matters left are twofold. First, stopping time will inevitably cause the person doing it to discorporate. Second, I am unfortunately tied into the Stargate network and will only be able to send you places using those devices."

Ranma grinned to her friends and said, "Well now we have our powers, a battleship from the Moon Kingdom, and the Time Gate. I say we go find Moloc and show him who's boss."

Hotaru said, "Ranma darling, didn't we tell the nice people from the SGC that we would speak with them tomorrow?"

Ranma nodded and said, "Yeah, but who said we have to do it here? Why can't we physically move the Time Gate onto our ship?"

Hotaru grinned and Beryl caught the red haired girl up in a hug saying, "You do have some brilliant ideas sometimes did you know that Ranma?"

* * *

In a distant Galaxy Pharaoh 90 was trapped in a single gem. He had thought it would be his escape from the wretched Moon Kingdom and the brat Serenity, but he had been wrong. Without any of his servants who knew the secret he was trapped and forced to serve one of the Priors of the Ori. It was truly pathetic, if he were free he could drain all of the Ori and take their place as a Dark God fed by the prayers and worship the Ori received. If possible the creature would have sighed…

Steps approached the Prior holding the staff said, "Halt in the name of the Ori!"

A voice said in return, "No…die! Die in the name of Wiseman!"

Powers crackled and snapped, but the outcome was assured from the beginning. The Prior died and Wiseman picked up the staff. "Ahh there you are master. I was sure I might find a version of you somewhere if she kept sending me places."

Wiseman cradled the staff to himself and said, "Now see here you are and my pledges to you take precedent to my servitude. I will free you and then you will free me and then we…together will rule over the entire multiverse!" The creature known as Wiseman laughed with insane glee and then he proceeded to recite an ancient unlocking right and smashed the scepter into the ground.

Author's Notes:

Okay before anyone complains I know this has a huge amount of Ranma-chan, but at this point Ranma has become comfortable in both forms and, of course, the Jaffa on Hak'tyl aren't so fond of men.

Other than that I expect that I may be able to really continue this now. I have ideas aplenty and it should lead into finding out just what happened to Ryouga…


	12. Star Gate or Time Gate: Chapter 3

General Hammond sat at the briefing table with the members of SG-1 saying, "Okay, so you're telling me that you were able to destroy this facility is that right Major Carter?"

The blond haired woman nodded and said, "That's correct sir and Tok'ra intelligence indicates that another facility was also destroyed by the Tria. Unfortunately we can't be sure how many of the facilities Anubis has."

Hammond took the information in and said, "I'll tell the other SG teams to keep their ears open, but I want to know more about this Tria. I thought they were still helping the rebel Jaffa against Moloc and his forces."

Carter looked at him directly and said, "Apparently they drew his ship into a large battle and destroyed it while four other ships in the fleet were infiltrated by their operatives who killed the commanding officers and asked if the Jaffa wanted to be free. Seeing their god destroyed and having the odds turned against them convinced the rest of Moloc's fleet to surrender."

"When did this happen?" Hammond looked as if it was entirely new to him.

"According to the Tok'ra it happened about a week ago and the attack on Anubis' other facility was apparently planed due to information they gained from Jaffa who had been serving Moloc as agents of Anubis."

Hammond looked concerned and said, "So that gives them eight ships then?"

Teal'c spoke softly saying, "Twenty-five ships. Other system lords have had entire ships defect from their fleet and join in the cause of the Tria. Some Jaffa even whisper that they are the only true goddesses come to break our chains and bring us freedom."

Jack butted in saying, "Wait, so are they setting themselves up as system lords now? Maybe we should have stopped them from taking that ship when we could."

Daniel looked at Jack and said, "We weren't exactly negotiating from a position of strength Jack. All we had given them was the space suits. All we could have done is not helped get the ship up and running…"

Carter shook her head and said, "No, they had more than enough expertise to get that thing running. The only choice we had was to make them an enemy and attempt to fight them on the bridge of that ship or leave peacefully."

Teal'c frowned and said, "I do not think we would have succeeded in an attempt to take the bridge."

Hammond spoke with authority saying, "No use going over the past. We need to focus on the present. The most important question is whether or not they are a threat to Earth."

Hammond looked to Teal'c and the man said, "I do not believe they are a threat to Earth, but perhaps we should speak with them again."

The General looked to Carter and said, "What do you have on their location?"

The blond haired woman said, "Well if we go by the location that I figured out based on the Star Gate symbols they should have an outpost on Pluto sir, but the gate address that we have on record seems to go offline entirely and we're not sure why." She stated without realizing that the reason the gate went offline with the address they had was due to the fact that it was moved into the Deimos every time the ship took off.

"The fact that they have a base here in our solar system causes me some concern. I want you to work on figuring out when a mission can begin. I'll have more orders for you as soon as you tell me when we can go."

Carter assented to his orders and the team was dismissed. Later in the 'Gate room everyone was prepping to go. Jack finished a few details and called out, "Does everyone have some C4?"

Answers were affirmative, so he said, "Alright it's pretty simple here. We are going to attempt to deactivate their protective shield after we come in, then we are going to talk and if it seems like they want to take over the galaxy we call for back up, blow up the facility and head home. Got it?"

Daniel spoke saying, "Jack are you sure we should do this? I mean, just by deactivating the shield alone we could be declaring that we aren't friendly. Do we really want to add another enemy along with Anubis?"

"Stay here if you don't like it Daniel these orders come from the top." Jack tossed back.

Daniel looked upset and said nothing else as the Star Gate finished dialing and opened. The group started to walk through the gate and he said softly, "This is a bad idea."

On the other side of the Star Gate the group was met for a second time, by a green haired hologram as well as a room filled with half finished devices and strange technology much different from that of the Goa'uld. The hologram spoke to them saying, "The guardians are currently in the ship yard, please follow me."

Jack looked to Samantha and she gave him a thumbs up. The group followed after the hologram as Sam stayed a moment to examine the room and controls.

A short while later Sam met up with the rest of SG-1. She shook her head to Jack and then the entire group walked along until they were at an obviously refurbished section of the castle. The hologram spoke saying, "The Guardians have just recently been able to acquire parts and materials that would allow them to open up these yards. Please mind your step as the holo units are not functioning in that area and I will be unable to warn you of the areas that have structural damage."

The members of SG-1 nodded and walked through the door. Inside was a gigantic facility holding the entirety of the Deimos. A group of female Jaffa were apparently working on welding the ship's hull while Ranma and his friends were standing at the very top of the hull near the bridge having a discussion.

SG-1 walked along the cat walks taking care to avoid holes and approaching a young girl whose task was apparently to fix those holes. The girl stood up as they came close and said, "The rest of the walk should be safe. If you need to speak to the Tria I suggest taking the fourth ladder. That will get you closest."

They thanked the girl and walked on as she returned to her work. Soon they arrived and heard part of a conversation, "…so the shield is one directional and that way we won't have to depend on our Senshi powers and holding our breath to keep us alive."

"That's right Ranma, but it will not…" The pink haired woman broke off and said, "Ah hello Colonel O'Neill, Dr. Carter, Dr. Jackson, and Teal'c. We apologize for not being able to meet you in our Gate Room, but we are quite busy with some modifications and repairs right now."

"Right…" Jack said realizing that the additional reason just might be to put them at a disadvantage since there was a large number of female and male Jaffa working out there.

Carter looked at the girls who were obviously waiting for more and said, "We heard some rumors that some rebel Jaffa were calling you goddesses. We just thought we would stop by and see if it was true."

Ranma answered, "Yeah, some of 'em were saying that, but we told them ta stop. We ain't goddesses or anything like that. Don't need an army of Kunos anyway." A somewhat sick look passed over the red head's face.

Daniel decided to speak and said, "Well now that you've defeated Moloc what are your plans?"

Ranma pointed to the ship and said, "We're planning on takin' the rest of the Goa'uld out of business. I'd tell you who was first on our list, but we aren't exactly high on trust. That Anubis guy is a bit out of our league right now, but we figure that with a few more system lords out of our way and some more ships we can get closer to a fight that we want. You interested in joinin' in or somethin'?"

"We're doing our part." Carter said.

"Yeah and does that part include comin' to our facility with a buncha C4 and tryin' ta turn off our defensive sheilds?" The red head said as she pointed to their bags. "''Cause I'm thinkin' that's not exactly what an ally in the fight against the Goa'uld would do."

Teal'c spoke first saying, "We are not fighting against the Goa'uld just to establish new gods in their place."

"Neither are we," Hotaru said with a serious tone, "but, we also do not trust your government to understand that. They see threats where none exist and so I suggest that you depart this facility before you injure our alliance beyond repair."

* * *

Later Jack was speaking to the others in his office at the SGC saying, "Well that went well." Sarcasm was clearly evidenced in his voice.

Daniel spoke saying, "Well, they seem to have somewhat forgiven us for the slight and aren't threatening to destroy the planet. In fact they let us go telling us that if we were in real need of help against the Goa'uld they would be there."

Teal'c nodded saying, "Indeed, they were most gracious despite our error."

"I also figured out why their 'Gate keeps going offline." Jack looked at her with a questioning gaze and she continued by saying, "The 'Gate room we arrived in had a recently cut hatch in its ceiling and Deimos has been modified quite a bit since we last saw it, but one of the most telling changes was in the back section it was pretty obvious that they must be bringing their 'Gate with them."

Jack nodded and said, "Alright I'll report our findings to General Hammond."

* * *

Neith sat in the command chair of the Deimos looking at the view screen as a female stood in front of it saying, "I am the goddess Nekhbet and you are surrounded. Your ships drive has been disabled and you will be destroyed unless you bow to me and declare that I am your goddess."

The brown haired woman spoke saying, "As a representative of all free Jaffa and the Tria who guides us I cannot comply. We recognize no god or goddess."

Nekhbet raised a hand and spoke saying, "So be urk…" a powerful kick sent her sprawling to the floor and moments later stone spears rose from the ground to crush the Jaffa on the bridge. The broadcast suddenly went out to every ship in Nekhbet's fleet and a sailor suited red haired woman was literally dragging Nekhbet to the screen.

Sailor Sol spoke saying, "This is not a goddess. This is just a person; she has no power over you if you do not want her too. Join us and be free!"

Earth spoke from behind her saying, "Weapons powering up and aiming for the Deimos."

Sol grabbed Nekhbet's neck and closed her own eyes as she twisted roughly and killed the goddess. After that she spoke with a serious tone saying, "Your goddess is dead. Surrender or be destroyed!"

"Weapons firing at this ship and the Deimos!"

Sol nodded and said, "Neith you know what to do."

Neith nodded and said, "Saturn, time to go up."

Sailor Saturn stood in a cylinder with her glaive ready. The door closed and it rose up from the bridge. She stood staring out into space and noted the ships that were starting to fire. She targeted one and moments it was annihilated by the _Silence_.

The Deimos powered up its own shields and fired on the other ships as well. The combination of the two powers was easily able to remove any threats. A few ships fled, but the rest had either surrendered or been destroyed. The battle was over, but the cost had been high once again.

In a private room on the Deimos Ranma sat as a male with his allies next to him. He stared at a view screen that was giving him readout from the last battle. He swore as he looked at it and said, "More than two thousand lives and they call us saviors?" he swore again and then said, "But, we can't just let these Goa'uld rule like gods can we? If we leave we're leaving them to that fate with children killed on fires and slaves to the ambition of these creatures."

Beryl spoke to him softly saying, "Ranma what is the martial artists code?"

He looked at her and said, "Protect the weak, but we ain't just martial artists. We kill now and not just machines. We killed Moloc and many of his Jaffa and heck; it almost felt good to kill Nekhbet like that."

Hotaru had an insight and said, "It isn't the killing you worry about. You realize that what we do must be done, what you worry about is your reaction to it, yes?" She touched his shoulder gently. "You worry that you will grow to enjoy it and become what we fight."

Ranma simply nodded and Beryl touched the shoulder saying, "That worry is what makes you better. It is what has changed in me since joining with you. As long as we continue to worry about our actions and ensure that we have done the best we could have done we will be fine."

Ranma nods and says softly, "You're right and besides I still have that damn motto in my head _Solis Custodes Omnis_."

Hotaru smiled at him and came even closer to snuggle saying, "You'd do it anyway Ranma."

Beryl came closer as well and he felt her bare skin against his own. He wondered momentarily how she had removed her shirt as he said, "Yeah, you're right I would."

After that the only other words coming from the room were squeals of delight and cries of passion.

* * *

"Warning! Fluctuation in time space noted! New black hole created and temporal device located!" The voice practically shouted in Ranma and the others heads waking them up from their slumber.

They quickly dressed, Ranma changed gender, and they all gathered at the location of Time Gate within the Deimos. "Alright, what is going on 'Gate?" The red haired girl spoke with obvious annoyance.

"I have fully integrated myself into this timeline and have noted that there has been a severe anomaly created in the Continuum. Specifically a black hole has been created and though it escaped my detectors previously when scanning the area near the black hole I have detected some other type of time dilation device."

Ranma looked to the others and Beryl spoke to the device saying, "Where are they?"

The 'Gate responded saying, "They are not within the area of space designated as belonging to the Goa'uld."

Hotaru spoke saying, "Could it be another being sent by Baba Yaga? We are still under her curse."

The gate spoke saying, "I am not sure mistress Saturn, but the functions of time in this reality are in danger as representatives of Pluto and Senshi of time it is your responsibility."

Ranma said, "We'd best go check it out then." The others nodded and she used the intercom saying, "Neith prepare for a course change."

The female Jaffa responded by saying, "It will be done." A message light beeped on her console and she added, "Milady, we have an incoming transmission from master Bra'tac."

Moments later Ranma was on the bridge speaking to Bra'tac, "You're telling me that Anubis is about to attack the Earth right now?" She shot a look at the other two of her Tria that conveyed a new seriousness.

The elderly Jaffa spoke saying, "Indeed the danger is grave. Teal'c and I are seeking ships and help to defend the planet."

Ranma looked to Beryl and said, "How many ships do we have that aren't busy gathering up what is left of Amaterasu and helping the Jaffa in those systems to realize their new status?"

Beryl, who was sitting at a station, pulled up the information and said, "We have six that could be prepared to assist Earth and seven if you count the Deimos. We also have some Alkesh and pilots available."

Ranma muddled it through her head. If the reading from the Time Gate wasn't important she and her allies could potentially fight Anubis at least well enough to get a cease fire and possibly more with the powers of Sol, Saturn, and Terra brought to bear. On the other hand if she ignored the warning and this was another dark god sent by their curse then they could be making things worse. Giving a mental sigh she looked to the screen and said, "We'll send the six ships and the nearest Alkesh to your position is one piloted by a Jaffa called Ronan."

"You have my thanks Ranma." Bra'tac said very sincerely and added, "Your Tria is a great help in the cause of freedom for all Jaffa."

Ranma nodded and said, "You are welcome Bra'tac and I hope to see you soon for another sparring session."

The older Jaffa smiled and said, "As do I." Those were his last words before ending the transmission.

Soon after the Deimos was on its way to investigate the oddity in space leaving SG-1 to handle the threat of Anubis with a little more help than they might have had previously.

* * *

The Deimos exited hyperspace far enough from the black hole so as to avoid being pulled in. Beryl, who was seated at the sensor controls, said, "It's hard to filter out the gravimetric effect of the Black Hole to get a good read on any other time dilation field."

The gate itself concurred with Beryl's statement when Beryl called out, "I'm detecting another ship nearby."

"See if you can contact them Hotaru. Neith, make sure our weapons are ready, but wait for my signal." Ranma finished speaking and everyone rushed to comply with his orders.

The screen lit up and a grey alien appeared on it stating, "Greetings, I am Thor the Supreme Commander of Asgard forces please state your purpose in this area of space."

Ranma looked at him and said, "I'm Ranma Taya captain of the Deimos and we detected a disruption in this area of space that could potentially harm the uh Time continuum and looking at that new Black Hole tells me we were right."

"I see," The gray alien blinked, looked at something on its sensors, and then continued, "We apologize for the necessity, but in order to destroy the Replicators once and for all we had to turn this star into a black hole. If we had known that some Ancients had not ascended we would have requested your assistance."

"Replicators…" Ranma looked puzzled a moment and Hotaru said, "The block like creatures we fought when we first arrived."

The red haired girl nodded and looked to Thor saying, "I thought that the android Reese we stopped was going to be used to help out?"

Thor nodded slightly and said, "We did receive the android and found within it a base command that allowed us to summon all replicators to the planet Halla. With the assistance of SG-1 we trapped them there with a time dilation device, but the time dilation field was only a temporary measure. We knew the time it would take for the Replicator humans to reach the machine would translate to less than two years outside the field. Therefore a more permanent solution was devised."

Beryl spoke saying, "In order to do that you collapsed the sun?"

The Asgard nodded again saying, "By artificially increasing its gravitational field, yes."

Ranma nodded and said, "Well I suppose the device will be destroyed soon and the continuum will be safe. Do you mind if we stick around and make sure?"

"That is acceptable. If you look at your sensors you will be able to see that the planet itself has already broken apart. However, a large number of Replicators have managed to come together in a coherent mass that has yet to pass the event horizon."

Everyone looked to the view screen, which was now split in half; with one side showing Thor and the other the event horizon and the replicator mass. Thor spoke saying, "Interesting. "

Beryl nodded and said, "We are detecting it too that mass is moving away from the event horizon."

Ranma looked at her and said, "Wait, I though Black Holes were like giant suction things. How can they be moving away from it like that?"

The Asgard spoke saying, "They do have the time dilation device. I do not know exactly how, but my instruments suggest that they seem to have used it to counteract the gravitational effects that should be pulling them in."

Ranma looked at the screen and said, "Hotaru you're with me we're going up. Beryl you stay here and monitor the situation and be ready to come up. Neith stay on the weapons I want them to be able to fire on my command."

Ranma and Hotaru quickly went up and into space transforming fully as they did so. On the bridge Thor spoke to Neith saying, "The blocks are picking up speed. Scans indicate the blocks have formed together into a ship."

Sailor Sol and Saturn stared at the Replicator ship that was headed their direction. Back on the bridge Thor is saying, "It is doubtful my ship's weapons will be effective against that ship."

Sol called into her communicator saying, "Well try anyway. Neith open fire!" even after speaking she and Saturn sent their own blasts of power at the approaching Replicator ship.

Thor's ship and the Deimos had little effect and the power of Sol's _Supernova_ seemed to just ablate against the shields as well. However, the _Silence_ seemed to have a better effect cutting into the ship, but it was not enough as the ship quickly reformed.

Ranma was already down and looking at the screen when the Replicator ship fired projectiles at the Deimos and Thor's ship. "Evasive now!"

The Deimos moved with high speed and avoided the projectile blasting it apart as it did so, but Thor's ship was not nearly as lucky. The gray being called, "My hull has been breached, but damage is minimal. It is likely that the projectile was composed of Replicators. They are not visible to my ship's scanners. This is how they have boarded Asgard ships in the past."

Ranma quickly moved to the teleport pad on her ship and said, "Send me over there. Beryl go up and help Hotaru I want her to try the _Death Reborn_ on those things!"

Even as she said it the orders were being followed. Sailor Sol vanished from the Deimos and appeared on Thor's ship where she began looking for the Replicators. Meanwhile Beryl went up to Hotaru and held onto the other girl ready to give her a portion of her life force while the Senshi of destruction pointed her Glaive at the Replicator ship and shouted, "_Death Reborn Revolution_!"

The power thrust Hotaru into Beryl, who cradled her gently and watched as the awesome power of the _Silence_ reached out into space and ripped into the Replicator ship removing it from existence entirely. Beryl held the other girl in her arms and used her own powers as Terra to keep her alive as the two descended back onto the bridge.

Once on the bridge Beryl carried Hotaru to the infirmirary and then had herself transported over to Thor's ship where Sailor Terra met up with Sailor Sol there the two rounded up and destroyed the creatures that were attempting to replicate and take over the ship.

* * *

On a Jaffa ship loyal to the Tria a young officer is reporting to the commander, "Sir, thirty-plus ships just appeared in orbit, taking station around the planet.

The commander nods and says, "I see them An'nika what is the news from the Tauri?"

The young Jaffa looks back and says, "The situation is not good they have only one ship called the Prometheus. They wish us to wait longer and not to engage unless we are attacked. I believe they are awaiting news from the group called SG-1."

The older commander nods and speaks, "I see, please attempt to get in touch with the Tria and apprise them of our situation."

The ships avoided conflict as Anbuis' fleet focused on systematically taking out power grids and broadcast terminals around the globe. Soon afterward the Prometheus launches and General Hammond calls to the few ships, "This is General Hammond from Earth we request your assistance now."

The commander of the Jaffa ship nods and says, "This is Fer'dir commander of the Tria's Light. You have our assistance commander we will engage the enemy." He turns to the rest of the crew and says, "We will now be engaging the forces of Anubis the false god. We will destroy him or we will die free!"

The battle quickly becomes desperate for the six ships and then an Alkesh comes out of hyperspace and plunges into the atmosphere. An'nika looks to her commander and says, "Sir Fer'dir a scout ship has exited hyperspace and is heading for the planet's southern pole."

The commander notes it and says, "That must be the Tauri vessel order all ships to move into position and assist as required."

The scout ship flies low over the ice and a round hole opens in the bottom of the ship, but instead of the transporter rings coming from it, a beam of light shoots down onto the surface and starts to burn a hole down into the ice.

Swarms of Hatak approach the scout ship and it comes under fire from the ships approaching from the front -- a huge squadron of F-302s swoops in and engages the Goa'uld ships along with a number of other Hatak beside them. The Prometheus and the Tria's Light are behind them.

An'nika calls to Fer'dir and says, "Sir, General Hammond requests that we defend the scout ship at all costs. The Prometheus is hovering in position over them."

The commander nods and says, "Set a course for Anubis command ship we will engage him directly." The pilot of the ship quickly responds and the ship heads out to engage

A few moments later the scout ships flies away from underneath Prometheus and the large ship joins the Tria's Light in an assault on Anubis' ship, but the two ships are obviously overmatched by the larger ship and take a great deal of damage. Soon enough it is obvious that they will be destroyed, but before that can happen a column of bright light surges up through the ice and out into the sky. Bits of it break off to blow up any remaining Goa'uld ships but the bulk of it heads straight up into the sky and into Anubis' ship. Prometheus is in the way but the beam diverts harmlessly around it and reaches the mothership. The beam seems to almost wrap itself around the ship, burning its way into various parts of the ship.

"Weapons fire coming from the surface, sir."

Fer'dir nods to his subordinate and says, "Break off course. Get us clear."

Prometheus is already moving and the Tria's Light follows as the bright energy continues to burn its way into and around Anubis' mothership. Moments later the ship blows apart. In fact the entirety of Anubis' fleet is being cut to shreds by the strange light sources.

Fer'dir looks to An'nika and says, "Contact the other ships and determine status. We will land on the Tauri planet and effect repairs."

An'nika nods and, another Jaffa, who is obviously the pilot of the ship, says, "Where should we touch down sir?"

The commander looks at him and says, "Put us down near one of the larger cities they should have the materials we require."

* * *

Ranma stared at Beryl and sighed saying, "Okay, let me get this straight. Anubis attacked the Earth and SG-1 powered up some sort of device using a Zero Point Module that Colonel O'Neill found on another planet, but during the battle one of our ships named Tria's Light," Ranma grimaced at the name, then continued.

"This ship suffered enough damage that it had to set down on Earth and they did so not too far from New York City causing massive panic and a need for the world's governments to come clean about us and the Goa'uld. So now they want a Tok'ra, an Asgard, and one of us to come and speak to the U.N."

Beryl nodded and then said, "Don't forget that Amaterasu, Camulus and Lord Yu have requested to speak with the Tauri and ourselves now."

Ranma frowned and said, "What's to talk about? They are despotic tyrants pretending to be Gods and we're out to destroy everything they stand for. Seems to me that it's probably a trap."

Hotaru added, "That's true, but they did offer to meet on Earth at the Star Gate Command complex."

Ranma sighed again and then said, "Alright let's figure out what we're gonna say to the U.N. and then we have to figure out which of the Jaffa can be put in place as an ambassador to Earth. I'm thinkin' that Bra'tac guy would be best and most willing ta do it."

The other two agreed and then the three prepared for their meeting with an assembly of the United Nations after which would follow a press conference. The prospects of both those things made Ranma nearly wish for the days when it was just the three of them trying to defeat Skynet.

A day or so later the three had finished their meeting with the U.N. had a very expensive dinner afterwards with U.N. representatives, spoken with vast numbers of heads of state, and finished a few Press Conferences. They were resting in the Deimos and scheduled to teleport into the S.G.C. later.

In the meantime Daniel Jackson and Elizabeth Wier were speaking while the rest of SG-1 had taken Colonel O'Neill to the Asgard who were helping him with his problem.

Inside Dr. Wier's office Daniel is giving her an update, "I was just going over some research material on the delegates the Goa'uld are sending. Camulus is the one who sent the original message. Then there's Amaterasu, the Japanese sun goddess; and the last one is Lord Yu."

Weir looks surprised and says, "Yu?!"

Daniel looks at her with a look that says he's about to roll his eyes, "Don't. Every joke, every pun, done to death, seriously."

Weir spoke defensively, "I just thought I remembered reading he was not himself, or something. Of course, for a Goa'uld, what that means exactly, I'm not sure. Please, continue.

Daniel nods and says, "Well, he no longer has the ability to take on a new host and it seems the regenerative powers of the sarcophagus are losing its effectiveness for him. Basically, he's suffering from old age."

The commander of the base nods and says, "So he's getting senile. Why did they choose him as a representative?"

"Well, his underlings may be doing a good job of covering for him and he has one of the larger fleets."

"Ah, I see." Elizabeth said with a knowing glance adding, "The other System Lords don't know."

"The interesting thing is Lord Yu is the one System Lord who opposed Anubis' desire to be reinstated to the Council after his banishment." Elizabeth looks at him and he looks back and shrugs saying, "Long story. The point is that he fell out of favor when the other System Lords accepted Anubis back and he used his power to become an effective leader."

"So now that Anubis has gone, you think the balance of power shifted back to Yu, but what about this Tria?"

Daniel sighs and looks at her, "We think they might be a group of ancients who didn't ascend. They have been busy helping the Free Jaffa and taking out a number of Goa'uld in the process. They have a number of ships loyal to their banner, a powerful ship of Ancient design, and some serious powers of their own."

"What sort of powers?" She gave him a questioning glance.

"Believe it or not we have seen them open a Star Gate without the dialing program, throw plasma bolts, move extremely fast, and destroy replicators with odd techniques." Weir looked at him as if he might be joking.

"Okaay" it was drawn out as if she didn't believe, but Daniel just nodded and she continued, "So what sort of power does their ship have?"

"According to some reports the Deimos on its own has taken on three Goa'uld craft sustaining only minor damage. With the Tria on board we have heard that they and the ship together have defeated six, again with only minor damage."

Weir looked serious and said, "So we don't want to get them angry either."

"Right and they hate the Goa'uld with a clear passion, and they have a ship parked outside Washington D.C., but on the bright side, out of all the Goa'uld, Lord Yu has been the most co-operative with us in the past."

"I don't know Dr. Jackson, it seems that if we're seen as too cooperative this Tria might not be happy and I thought you said Goa'uld could not be trusted."

Daniel nods and says, "Oh, they can't, especially not a ... crazy one."

Wier sighed and said, "I'm not seeing much of a bright side."

"Well who knows maybe we can have a closer talk with this Tria now that the new president says to trust them. They might be our ace in the hole especially since they helped us with Anubis and have spoken to the U.N. suggesting that they want to help us."

Weir looks at him and says, "Let's hope they were telling the truth then."

* * *

Sometime later Weir is waiting nervously at the bottom of the ramp as the Gate dials. Daniel walks in and she says, "I thought you were going to stand me up."

He shakes his head and says, "No I was just getting the Tria set up. I figured we could have them meet the System Lords in the meeting room," he looks at her with concern, "Heard anything from Teal'c and Sam?"

"Colonel O'Neill is making a good recovery and they should all be back in a few days."

Daniel smiles and the Gate whooshes from the control room a voice says, "Receiving a signal, ma'am. SG-7 reports that we have a green light."

Weir nods and says, "Open the iris." The iris opens and Amaterasu, Camulus and Yu step through, accompanied by Oshu, Yu's First Prime. SG-7 follow behind.

Weir heads towards them and says, "Welcome to Earth. Allow me to introduce ..."

She is cut off by Camulus who speaks with contempt, "We are not interested in your name."

Weir looks at him and replies with sarcasm, "Really? I generally find it helps so much."

Amaterasu frowns and wrinkles her nose as if something smells bad, "We prefer to present our offer, so we can spend as brief a time as possible on this planet." Elizabeth looks at Daniel, who smiles ruefully.

"All right then, follow me." She gestures with her hand and escorts the group to the meeting room.

Soon afterwards Camulus and Yu are seated on one side of the table, Daniel and Amaterasu on the other and Weir at the head while the Ranma, Beryl, and Hotaru sit opposite Weir. Oshu stands behind Yu.

Camulus speaks, "Your unexpected defeat of Anubis has created an unstable situation among the System Lords. In order to avoid open war, we came to an agreement to divide his territories and his armies evenly."

Ranma says, "Without even askin' the populace I'm sure."

Camulus speaks with disdain, "We are their gods they should be happy to worship us and live under our rule. Unfortunately, one of those among us has broken the agreement."

Daniel smiles slightly and says, "Oh, no, no, no, don't tell me, let me guess, it's, um ..." He pauses dramatically.

Amaterasu gets tired of waiting and says, "Ba'al" at the same time that Daniel does.

Camulus says, "He was able to learn the location of the planet where Anubis was creating his Kull warriors."

Ranma frowns and says, "Another one. I thought we destroyed 'em all."

Beryl adds, "Apparently not. I assume that Ba'al got to this facility first and reprogrammed the soldiers for his own purposes."

Amaterasu looks annoyed and says, "With the unspeakable at his command, Ba'al has tipped the balance of power in his favor."

Camulus speaks saying, "In battle, the Kull are far superior to the Jaffa. Already many among us have begun to speak of capitulation, much as they did with Anubis. If that happens, Baal will indeed be unstoppable."

Hotaru looks at him and says, "These Kull are far from unstoppable. Why are you really here?"

Weir nods and adds, "I agree this is all very interesting, but I fail to see what it has to do with us."

Yu beckons Oshu forward. Oshu leans down and Yu whispers into his ear. Oshu straightens up and speaks, "My master wishes to say it is well known the Tau'ri possess a powerful new weapon, something far beyond their current level of technology."

Daniel looks at him and says, "Yes, we used it to kill Anubis and destroy his fleet."

Oshu responds saying, "By means of this weapon, Baal can be prevented from conquering the galaxy."

Camulus nods and looks to Weir saying, "Yes, you must see that if Baal defeats us, how long do you think it will be before he turns his attention to you?"

The threat was obvious in her voice as she said, "If he does, he'll suffer the same fate as Anubis."

Amaterasu spoke saying, "Perhaps, but there are other worlds in this galaxy without the luxury of such advanced defenses."

Ranma looked at her and said, "Nice threat there lady, but you're forgetting us."

"You present little threat to him Tria and we could not help but notice that the Asgard did not come to your aid when Anubis threatened Earth. In fact, we've heard nothing from the Asgard for quite some time now."

Beryl spoke saying, "That situation will soon be rectified. Even now the Asgard are prepared to take up their position as protectors at our side."

Weir nodded and said, "The Asgard didn't come to help us with Anubis because they knew it wasn't necessary."

"Ba'al believes otherwise." Contempt was still obvious in Amaterasu's voice, "He is convinced that the Asgard can no longer exercise power in this galaxy. He intends to take the planets protected under the Goa'uld/Asgard treaty for himself."

Camulus added, "If you do not help us stop him, millions of humans will die, and millions more will be enslaved."

The meeting breaks up for a time and the Tria sit with Wier and Jackson in her office she says, "How many planets are protected under this treaty?"

Daniel replies, "Um, twenty-six. Twenty-seven if you include Earth."

She looks concerned and says, "Are the Asgard actually available to protect anything?"

Hotaru replies, "They have sustained losses in their war with the Replicators and have other issues as well. So they may not be as able as they once were."

Jackson nods and adds, "Right and recently we've been trading on the threat, kind of a big bluff."

Weir nods and says, "Well, Baal is about to call the bluff." She looks to Ranma and her allies saying, "How many ships can you field?"

Ranma is about to speak and then thinks better of it saying, "Sorry, but you guys still aren't up there in my list of people I trust."

Daniel says, "Well at least Earth is safe so long as the Goa'uld think we can defend ourselves."

Weir looks at the Tria each in turn and says, "But that's a bluff too."

Jackson notes her look and says, "Yeah, more or less."

Beryl frowns and says, "Am I to understand that you can no longer use the device that Fer'dir described to us? The one that destroyed Anubis and his armada?"

Weir replied simply, "No, it requires a vast quantity of energy and the module we have has no more power."

Beryl nods and says, "A Zero Point Energy module. It is possible that we can help you with that."

"Then if anyone calls our bluff…" She speaks

Daniel adds "They will find out that it wasn't a bluff at all."

Beryl nods and says, "It can be arranged, but first let us continue speaking with these system lords."

All of the people re-assemble at the table and Weir speaks first saying, "We appreciate you bringing us this information, but it doesn't change the fact that we can't get involved in any internal Goa'uld dispute, and if Ba'al tries to attack any of the protected planets, he'll suffer the consequences."

"No," Camulus looks annoyed, "We do not share your faith in the Asgard. We must stop Baal before it comes to that."

Weir looks at him and says, "Well you'll have to forgive my bluntness, but that's not our problem." Yu slams his hand down on the table angrily.

Practically shouting the man says, "Enough! With each passing moment, Anubis grows more powerful!" Everyone at the table looks slightly uncomfortable.

Ranma says, "I think ya mean Ba'al right?"

Oshu is about to suggest a break, but Yu pushes him back saying, "Yes, Ba'al and you Tria have assisted him by destroying many who could have stood against him."

Camulus adds, "That is true and we know you Earth has a formidable new defensive weapon, but with it you must wait for your enemies to come to you, and that can be dangerous. What if an enemy were to devise a means of defeating this weapon?"

Weir responds, "What exactly are you offering?"

"Hyperdrive engines" Ranma scoffs at Camulus' statement and says, "That's not even an offer. I mean come on!"

Amaterasu says, "But, we know that these people of Earth have none."

"Yeah, but we have 'em. How are you going ta interest us?"

Amaterasu looks at the red haired woman and says, "You will fight Ba'al anyway. We are just asking that you fight him first and leave us be. The engines are for the people of Earth."

Weir shakes her head and says, "No, we're not about to fight your battles for you in exchange for a couple of hyperdrive engines that may or may not do us any good in the long run, and especially since we already have that technology at our disposal."

The system lords look at the Tria and realize that she's quite correct. Amaterasu's voice gains a sweet tone, "This Ancient weapon: such an advanced piece of technology. The power requirements must be enormous. Even simple maintenance must be extremely difficult, given your limited capabilities."

Weir shrugs, "We manage."

Still in a very sweet voice Amaterasu says, "Still, I wonder what Baal would think if he were to receive intelligence that the weapon was temporarily out of commission."

Camulus says, "He would come to this world to claim it for himself. The Tau'ri would be forced to destroy him."

"Very true Camulus and we would have to give neither, the Earth people nor, the Tria a thing in return."

Daniel says, "Oh, come on! Baal would never fall for that. He knows how desperate you are. I think he might find this information a little bit convenient ..."

Hotaru looks at them angrily, "You are asking us to cease any activities against you and concentrate on Ba'al, yet you offer nothing at all in return."

The room becomes quiet as Hotaru continued saying, "Here is what I offer in return. You will tell all of your worshippers that you are not gods and that they may freely choose to leave your systems. Those who wish to leave will be sent to worlds that we now control and those of Ba'al that we will be taking from him once he is destroyed."

Camulus spoke first saying, "That is unacceptable! Besides the Tauri would never allow you to rule over such a vast area."

Ranma shrugged and said, "We ain't ruling buddy we're letting the Jaffa do that in a democratic system of their own choosing."

Weir added, "We would gladly support the Tria in their efforts to engender freedom in the galaxy."

Camulus looks annoyed and says, "We must send a message to the other System Lords to advise them of the current situation."

Weir looks at him and says, "Go right ahead." She stands and leaves the room and Daniel follows her. Ranma, Beryl and Hotaru walk out moments later.

Sometime later in the S.G.C control room The Gate is dialing out. Daniel comes in and goes over to Walter, a technician, and says, "I need to see the most recent message they received." Walter calls up the information.

Ranma, Beryl and Hotaru are standing back while Weir is speaking with the System Lords saying, "It's unfortunate you're being recalled. I thought we were making such good progress."

Camulus shakes his head saying, "Your demands were ridiculous. We had no choice but to terminate negotiations."

She shrugs and says, "Well, give my regards to Baal." Then she walks away from him. Camulus smiles smugly as the Gate whooshes.

Moments later the gate shuts down and Wier looks up at the control room as Amaterasu says, "What is the meaning of this?!"

Daniel comes into the Gate room and Weir turns to face him. "The second message. They've been recalled because the System Lords have decided to test our defenses. They're sending twelve ships to attack Earth. Those will be here within the hour."

Ranma looks to Beryl and Hotaru and says, "Let's go!" The three use their own powers to teleport aboard the Deimos surprising Amaterasu, Yu, Camulus, and everyone else who was watching.

Weir tries to shrug off her shock as she says, "Sending ships here to attack us is an act of war, and a foolish one at that, given what our defenses are capable of."

Oshu says, "My lord did not order such action."

"Then undo it. Tell the System Lords to call the ship back they will assuredly be destroyed." Daniel says worried for the people in the ships.

Amaterasu says, "The decision they have made is one of desperation, forced upon them by your unwillingness to help. Persuading them to change course can only be done in person."

Oshu adds, "With a full Council vote."

A voice calls from the comm., "Ma'am sensors detect that the Tria's Light has just powered up and is leaving the planet."

"Where is it headed?" Weir calls back.

"Captain Fer'dir says they are joining the Deimos and will help defend the planet."

Weir looks to the Goa'uld and says, "Even if I did believe you, all good faith is out the window at this point. You're our prisoners. Take them away!" Guards come and escort them out of the Gate room.

Not much later Weir is talking with the System Lords, "I have just received word that the Asgard have arrived. They want to witness the demonstration of our new Ancient defense technology that you have forced us into. There's still time to call off the attack."

Amaterasu says, "We would also like to witness the demonstration."

Daniel comes up from the Control Room and looks to Amaterasu, "Your ship isn't coming. It was destroyed en route by Baal. The collective forces of the System Lords are bowing, and you're losing the war."

Oshu looks at him and says, "You have to free us. Anubis was over-confident, and he still needed the bulk of his armada to keep the System Lords at bay. The fleet he used to attack Earth was small compared to that which Baal will command should he defeat the System Lords. He will rule the galaxy. No weapons will be powerful enough to stop him."

Weir replies, "What would you have me do?"

"Free us to fight, or -- if we must -- die with honor." Amaterasu nods and says, "We will speak with the Tria and see if there can be some other compromise."

Weir nods and says, "I'll speak with my superiors."

Not much later she walks back into the room and says, "I've discussed the situation with my superiors -- we've decided to let you all go."

The System Lords depart, but Camulus stays behind saying, "Dr. Weir a moment of your time."

She stays and when they are alone he says, "I wish to request asylum. My fleet was destroyed before I came here -- of the many, among the first to fall. I have nothing left with which to fight. The only thing waiting for me through the Star Gate is shame and torture. So it is not true that I would be more useful to you out there. Perhaps I could be of some use to you here."

Weir nods and leaves him in the room shutting the door behind her. Soon enough she is in the Gate Room and the Star Gate is open. Doctor Weir stands at the foot of the ramp as Yu, Oshu and Amaterasu come in and walk up the ramp. Oshu turns his head and nods slightly to Weir in acknowledgement. She returns the nod. Amaterasu turns near the top of the ramp and walks back a few steps. Her voice is angry as she says, "Make sure Camulus knows he will forever be branded a traitor and a coward." Then she turns and follows Yu and Oshu through the Gate.

* * *

The Deimos and the Tria's Light were in space facing a group of twelve ships. On the bridge the screen was split between Lord Yu and Amaterasu. The lady goddess was saying, "We cannot agree to your terms, but if you do not join forces with us you will be unable to face Ba'al."

Ranma stood up from her spot in the captain's chair and moments later appeared next to Amaterasu her ship. The red haired girl was in her full Sailor Sol guise and she said, "You don't get it. You aren't the goddess of the sun at all."

The Jaffa on Amaterasu's ship gasped and the woman's first prime leveled his staff weapon at Sailor Sol. Sol just smirked at him and said, "You won't be able to fire it fast enough and then she will be dead."

Even as Sol spoke a large ball of plasma blasted out from her hand and destroyed the Jaffa's weapon. She stared at Amaterasu and said, "I'm giving you a chance because my people once revered you. Show me that you can be that person and I won't destroy you."

Amaterasu's survival instinct kicked in and she said, "You are right. I am not a goddess. I agree to your terms."

Moments later Ranma was back on her own ship looking at Lord Yu with Oshu behind him and she said, "Yu what do you say?"

The old man looked at Oshu and then back at the screen, then he said, "I agree to your terms."

Ranma grinned at the screen and said, "Then let's take down Ba'al."

* * *

Ba'al looked at his view screen with annoyance. He had twice as many ships as the Tria, Yu, and Amaterasu and yet the battle was not faring in his direction despite the Ancient advances he had gained from Anubis. His ship was rocked by a powerful blast from the Tria's Light and another of his ships was destroyed with a single shot from the Deimos vessel.

Many of his forces were retreating and some had changed sides in the middle of the battle. To make matters worse other System Lords had already contacted him to inform him that they would not serve him.

Looking at his screen Ba'al saw the Deimos turn towards his vessel and he frowned saying, "Call to all ships have them disengage and head towards Dakara. We have one chance to salvage this situation and it is there that we will find the weapon we require."

Moments after speaking his ship entered hyperspace and went towards that planet.

Ranma looked at the view screen and heard Beryl saying, "Ba'al's flagship has retreated from battle."

The red haired woman nodded and said, "I see it. Hotaru plot us a course and follow him. With the agreements we have from Yu and Amaterasu he's the last link here once he's gone the hold of these Goa'uld will be broken."

Hotaru looked back and said, "I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Ba'al was looking at the strange device on Dakara he knew that it was some form of weapon created by the ancients, but he was not clear on its workings. He sat looking at the screen and pressing blocks as he attempted to figure out the pattern he might need. As he did so he heard a voice whispering in the back of his head it was grating and obviously that of an old female.

Each time Ba'al listened to the voice he saw the lines change to something new, something more powerful than the last. He worked harder, knowing that the Tria was not far behind him. His hands started to flow over the blocks and the voice guided him again and again. With each block he pressed he could hear it louder telling him exactly what he needed to know.

Suddenly he stopped and looked around the room saying, "Who are you?"

The voice in his head laughed and said, "You wouldn't know me little Goa'uld bone. I am ancient beyond your understanding. I am a witch of great power known to many as Baba Yaga."

He frowned and said, "What do you want with me old woman?"

"I want the same thing you want. I want to destroy the creatures you call the Tria. If you follow my guidance this weapon will destroy them and you will reign undisputed in this galaxy."

Ba'al nodded and started to follow Baba Yaga's advice once again. The blocks went down and the chart on the wall changed, each time getting closer and closer to a pattern that would destroy the Tria.

The Deimos came out of Hyperspace and a communication came immediately from a Jaffa loyal to their cause, "Tria, you must hurry. Ba'al is in the Temple of Dakara we have heard that he has found an ancient device capable of destroying or creating life. You must act quickly."

Ranma acknowledged the communication and said, "Beryl see if you can pinpoint an energy signature or something."

The pink haired woman quickly complied and said, "There's a large one on the planet surface I'll put the coordinates into the transport device."

Ranma moved to the transport area with Hotaru behind him, moments later Beryl was on the pad as well and he grinned saying to Neith, "You have command. Send us down and target any hostiles at your discretion."

The dark haired Jaffa nodded and sent the group down to the planet's surface. As they arrived Ba'al looked up from his device and said, "Too late Tria. I have your energy signature and you will die."

His hand moved towards a last block and a phrase came to each of them as they each held up their hands and shouted, "_Time Slow!"_

The power of time was theirs and Ba'al's hand moved with incredible slowness whereas each of them had been trained to move at extraordinarily fast speeds. Even had time been functioning normally they might have made it, but with time slowed for them they were more than able to move fast enough to destroy Ba'al where he stood with their powers.

Time reasserted itself and the three swore they could hear Baba Yaga screaming with fury as Ba'al's component atoms were scattered about the room.

* * *

In a distant Galaxy the city of Celestis was entirely dark and quiet. The flames had gone out and the Ori were gone. The man called Wiseman moved to the darkened altar where he heard the voice of Master Pharaoh 90, "I hunger…the ones who followed the thing called Origin are no longer. Their prayers are silent and their worlds are dead. I require more sustenance more of their light."

Wiseman bowed obsequiously and said, "I have the answer my lord. Another galaxy far from here where the Moon Kingdom once reigned and where others like the Ori must be."

"How have you found out this information my servant?"

He groveled and his eyes glowed with insanity as Wiseman said, "I found the Truth an Ark of Truth that was hidden here. It has shown me what I needed to know. All we need is one of the ships. If you were to put yourself into the heart of the ship and give me just a small amount of power we can go there."

"It is done." The power of Pharaoh 90 washed over Wiseman and transformed him into something new, something nearly as powerful as Baba Yaga herself. The insane man then went to a ship and started it up using his new powers. Once the ship was in space Pharaoh 90 placed itself into its heart changing the pure white ship into a dark malignant ring.

That malignancy was now headed directly towards Earth…

* * *

Author's notes and responses:

Another chapter done and some interesting happenings now first off I'd like to say that yes Ranma and company are indeed quite powerful I make no apologies for that. It is inherent in the powers they have gained and in the foes they will have to face. The biggest of which is currently Pharaoh 90, but ultimately these people (if they survive) are going to have to face down one of the most powerful witches in existence. They will need everything they can get.

Q: Whatever happened to Ryoga?

A: He's still with the Sailor Senshi helping them out. If I ever have a chance I am intending to write something along the lines of "A Neriman Jedi in Neo Queen Serenity's Court"

Q: Why is Ranma calling himself Ranma Taya now?

A: Due to the final merger between himself and the personality of the girl who used to be Sailor Sol he ended up keeping both names and so he calls him/her self Ranma Taya. As for the Hibiki name they are indeed still part of that family if they ever get back.

Q: Why did SG-1 get all high and mighty trying say they had salvage rights to the space ship and were thinking of denying Ranma's group having it?

A: Unfortunately this is a theme in the Star Gate Series. The same goes for the attempted sabotage of the Tria. SG-1 follows orders from the U.S. government and many times those orders are not very friendly to the aliens. Daniel is always the voice of reason, but is often ignored.

Q: Why couldn't Ranma and his allies just make a space suit?

A: I thought about it, but in the end making those things would require fabrication capabilities which were not active on Pluto. Once they have the Deimos in hand and Jaffa ships and allies they wouldn't need the suits. Besides I needed it for the plot.

Q: How powerful is the Deimos?

A: Very! I figured it was on par with other ancient ships we've seen in the series and those could pretty much take on an Ori vessel in a one on one fight. Not to mention the added bonus of three Sailor Senshi who can pop up on deck and use their powers.

Q: What's going to happen next?

A: You'll just have to wait and see. Honestly I don't know half the time these things write themselves sometimes.


	13. Star Gate or Time Gate: Chapter 4

Ranma sat in a room with Beryl and Hotaru he was sipping a glass of water after taking a few pills for what had become a screaming headache. It was only a week or two after their victory over Ba'al and the Jaffa nation was free. Or at least it was in theory, but reality sometimes made messes of things that ought to be simple in theory. Huge numbers of Jaffa had overthrown their Gods and Goddesses and joined the cause of freedom. Ships were still coming to Dakara to pledge their loyalty to the Tria and the cause of freedom. Lord Yu and Amaterasu were off on their own planets with a single ship each and the few Jaffa still loyal to them. All in all it should have been a celebration for Ranma and his girls, but they were finding out the hard way that the fight for freedom was just the beginning.

Ever since they had destroyed Anubis and killed Ba'al the free Jaffa had been looking to them for leadership and a new pathway. Disputes came to them to be reconciled and desperate demands for aid and help also came their way. Thousands of people wanted them to basically answer their prayers and it was hard to say no, but they had finally started to do it. They had helped the Jaffa to form a parliament based on Ranma's scanty knowledge of Japan and information they had gleaned while in America.

The reason for Ranma's headache was that the very first thing the Jaffa Parliament had done was make the Tria the supreme commanders of all military forces and had tasked them with the job of creating a new and more fair code of military justice.

Ranma spoke softly saying, "Okay this thing is as good as it is going to get right girls?"

Beryl and Hotaru responded in the affirmative and Ranma said, "Good we'll send it to the Parliament and they can make any changes necessary." The red haired girl sighed softly and said, "So, all we need to do now is decide if this is what we really want."

Beryl responded saying, "It is not perfect, but at least we are together and we do have skill in commanding an army."

Hotaru added, "Besides we aren't even sure if we can use the Time Gate to travel to another universe and even if we could I am sure finding the one we came from would be a rather difficult endeavor."

Ranma nodded and said, "Yeah, but that witch is still out there. I don't like the idea of sitting around and waiting for her ta send some new threat at us like she did with Ba'al. A second slower and who knows what that machine could have done."

Berly nods and stands with her pink hair flowing in her wake as she moves, "Yes, you are right Ranma now that we have helped the Jaffa and brought peace to this galaxy we must take our fight to its real source. We will have to tell the Parliament thank you for this honor, but no thank you and then go."

Hotaru stood as well and touched Beryl's shoulder saying, "Perhaps we should speak with the Time Gate first to find out if it is even possible to travel like that." After Hotaru finished speaking the three sent the newly formed code of military justice to the Jaffa parliament.

After that it did not take long before they were in the area of the Deimos where they had placed the Time Gate and listening as it spoke saying, "The connection with the system of Star Gates is deep and we can not travel across universal barriers without first severing that connection."

Ranma nodded and sais, "So how do we sever the connection then?"

The Time Gates responded saying, "We could stop time, but doing so always results in the discorporation of our guardian."

"I think we'll avoid that." Beryl answered testily. "What other options are there?"

"Calculations suggest that if you were to again come into contact with another device that was capable of time travel such as the one inside Amnar the connection would be forcefully severed and we would all be thrown into a random universe."

Hotaru replied simply, "The Asgard we recently assisted had a time dilation device, so it may be possible that they could create something like a time travel machine."

Ranma nodded and said, "Alright let's go speak to them…" she paused and added, "After we tell the Parliament that we will be leaving and I suppose exactly what we're doing."

It took a few days before they were able to stand up in front of the leaders of the Free Jaffa nation, but now they were there. The three girls looked on and as the most diplomatic of the group Beryl spoke saying, "We have happily served the cause of freedom for all Jaffa and gladly agreed to help write the new code of military justice that you have just instituted, but we must decline a position as supreme commanders of your military forces."

A female Jaffa stands up and says, "Why? You are not planning to leave us now Tria? We still need so much."

A black skinned Jaffa with no hair and a thin black mustache stands up as well and says, "Indeed Ka'lel, the Tria has been very significant in helping us set up democracy and freedom for all Jaffa…"

The room goes wild with objections and conjecture until the man speaks again saying, "Quiet! If we are to be true to the ideals of freedom we must allow them to choose their path."

The woman looks sad and responds, "You are correct Gerak. We should not force the Tria to conform to our desires." She looks at her heroines and says, "What will you do then?"

Beryl responds saying, "We will be in communication if you need us, but we have our own pressing mission. This is an enemy of great power that will hound us forever if we do not take our battle to her. We are going to find a way to do that."

Questions exploded from the group and it took a few moments for Gerak to restore order and ensure that one question at a time was asked. Beryl took her time and answered each question diplomatically and with as much secrecy as she could, but it soon became obvious that the three members of the Tria would be taking the Deimos and speaking with the Asgard first. If that did not succeed they would seek out other worlds from their database and hope that they could find the item they were seeking. Once that was established there came the inevitable volunteering of ships, supplies and more to assist them in their quest. To avoid adding insult to injury the group ended up accepting a full crew for the Deimos, two fully crewed Ha'tak's and a group of 20 death gliders.

* * *

Just two ships from the Asgard fleet met the Deimos and its sister ships, but Ranma and her allies knew full well that without their Senshi powers the Deimos and her allies would be hard pressed to win against the other two ships. Of course there was not going to be a battle today. Instead the alien named Thor was speaking to them saying, "The time dilation device was the most powerful thing we created. It was not able to travel through time. I am sorry, but we are not capable of creating the technology ." The little gray man sighed slightly and then added, "In fact we were going to contact you in the hopes that your knowledge of the ancients might help us with our own problems due to genetic drift."

Beryl looked to the screen and suddenly an idea came to her. She stood and said, "It might be possible for us to assist you."

Ranma looked at her and she nodded back to the Red haired girl, then continued saying, "We can help, but you will have to help us as well."

Thor nodded and said, "What will you require."

Beryl smiled and said, "Just some information."

Soon afterward Thor and Freya sat with the group around a small table. Beryl spoke to them saying, "So, from what we understand about the time gate everyone agrees that having any Asgard go back in time will not be useful because of possible paradox."

The two aliens nodded and Beryl continued saying, "So that means the three of us will need to go through the Time Gate and speak with the ancients or Alterrans about any time travel devices they may have and then we can use some invisibility devices that you have in order to go to the Ancient Asgard and get samples that will help fix your problems with Genetic Drift."

The two aliens agreed and then Hotaru said, "The only problem is that the gate will not completely travel with us anymore. So we will have to travel to a place with a gate and then we will be unable to return to this time period unless we take a ship and restart the gate on Pluto again."

The gate spoke in their heads saying, "The gate in this universe was inactive at that time and such a paradox could potentially destroy it because of the lack of defensive systems."

"Why not just leave the Time Gate open?" Ranma asked with a confused look.

The others looked at him and the Asgard said, "The Star Gate may only be opened for a limited time, is it not the same with your Time gate?"

The gate replied in a negative and Ranma said, "Looks like that's not a problem for the Time Gate, so we can do that."

Beryl stated quickly, "But, then the planet will not have an access to the rest of the galaxy."

"Hmm," Ranma frowned, "I guess that wasn't such a good idea then."

Thor spoke saying, "Perhaps you could travel in a small ship designed to travel through a Star Gate as well as hyperspace? We could create one and equip it with a cloaking field as well."

"That would be great!" Ranma exclaimed, then added, "Thank you and I hope that what we bring back can save your race."

Thor nodded and said, "As do we all. We will meet again in a week and bring you the ship you will need."

"Wait, "Beryl said and stood up. She looked at the two Asgard and said, "You should take one of our Zero point modules with you so that you can place it in that ship…"

Thor and Freya looked at her and their large black eyes blinked simultaneously and Thor said, "You would allow us to have one of these devices knowing that we will study it for our own use?"

Ranma responded by saying, "You're building us a ship, we saved you from some replicators and from what we have heard and seen of you guys…" She paused and then shrugged as she said, "Well, honestly I'd rather trust you guys over nearly anyone else in this universe."

Beryl added, "Also there is the fact that if we stay here we may need to call on you for assistance another time."

A week later the Deimos and its sister ships were in orbit around a planet with a small indigenous population and a Star Gate. In side the Deimos Ranma, Beryl and Hotaru were admiring the small and sleek Asgard ship that was being piloted into the bay of their ship. The Asgard ship came to a stop and Thor stepped out as they continued to admire it and said, "We were unsure of the nature of your extra attacks, but did their best to analyze the video feed of your battle against the Replicators and duplicate the features on the Deimos on a smaller scale."

Ranma and the two others started to notive the little gray alien as he continued speaking, "The Zero Point module should ensure that the shield can hold against nearly any attack and it could go up to near half of the speed of light if necessary."

Beryl suddenly imagined the Deimos and didn't want to imagine what would happen if the ship went that fast and the three of them did not, so she said, "How are the inertial dampeners?"

The gray alien responded, "They should be more than adequate for your needs. They are rated for a cargo of up to ten thousand pounds."

Beryl blinked and Thor continued saying, "We did not add any weapon systems due to space limitations, however as I mentioned earlier we did attempt to replicate the features of the Deimos that we saw in battle."

Ranma said, "So does the canopy around the control area allow for shooting out from it?"

Thor looked at the girl and said, "In simplest terms you are correct." Ranma nodded and was about to ask about something else, but the alien decided to go on and explain exactly how the canopy shield system worked.

Luckily for Ranma their conversation had to end as Beryl and Hotaru were getting into the Asgard ship. Ranma took her leave and entered as well, and Thor called out, "Remember you are seeking to go back into the past millions of years and even with our vast database we could not get an exact date that you would need."

Ranma nodded and said, "So we may need to make a few trips. Let's see where this first one takes us and go from there. Gate send us back 4 million years."

The time gate responded to the commands of one of its three mistresses and the Asgard ship flew through it and to the other side.

* * *

A small spaceship flies over the top of clouds. As it reaches the edge of the clouds, a large star-shaped city on the ground comes into view, surrounded by a forcefield. Inside the city, a man and a woman dressed in futuristic-looking clothes stand at a window watching the ship approach, then turn and gaze at each other. Outside the window, the small ship bursts through the forcefield and comes in to land. The man and woman gaze at each other for a moment longer, then the man turns and walks away. The woman watches him go, a look of longing or loss on her face.

After a few moments she turns to look out of the window again. Behind her is an Ancient Control Chair, the same one that will be used by Jack O'Neill to help fight off Anubis's fleet. Outside, the city begins to rise into the air, leaving behind only the area that the woman is standing in. Once clear of the central area, engines kick in and the city shoots up into the sky.

In the city a technician is looking at his controls as they enter orbit, "My lady I am detecting a small vessel of Asgard design approaching. The shields are gone and it's life support system has been compromised."

"Bring them aboard and place the occupants in suspended animation we will bring them out once we reach the new galaxy and begin to populate it."

Unfortunately for the occupants of that ship they were not going to wake up for a very long time.

* * *

Millions of years in the future Daniel Jackson sat in the control Center of Atlantis wondering how it was that he ended up in control of the place. His mind answered the question for him. Civillian control and the UN after the full unveiling of the fact that aliens were alive and that the U.S. had been in contact with them the entire world had been up in arms and Dr. Weir had ended up in charge of the entire Star Gate project while he had been asked to go to Atlantis.

The opportunity of a lifetime had been basically handed to him and as a side bonus one of his best friends, Colonel Samantha Carter, was set as the leader for the military portion of the expedition.

He wondered for a moment if he would have taken the position had he known that arriving here would bring its own problems with a race known as the Wraith. He answered himself in the affirmative realizing that the only thing that might have prevented his coming to Atlantis was a new thread to Earth, but that hadn't happened and so here he was sitting at a large desk with Colonel Carter on his right, Major Sheppard to the left, Dr. McKay next to him, Lieutenant Ford next to the doctor, Dr. Becket next to him, Dr. Zelenka next to him and Teyla, a member of Major Shappard's team and a representative of the Athosians who were on base, as the last person at the table.

Daniel says, "Well we know for sure that at least three Wraith hive ships are coming now and we know when."

Major Sheppard said, "Well that's something."

Ford said, "I realise this might not be cool, but we should consider M7G-677."

Daniel replied, "No, it's a planet mostly filled with children and their only defense is that ZPM."

The Canadian Scientists said, "He does rais a valid point. We've already established that the ZedPM is nearly depleted, but it could be of some limited use to us."

Daniel replied, "Not enough. We need more than that and I won't endanger Children." He looked to Sam and said, "You got some sort of message from Earth earlier today. What is their status can they help?"

Colonel Carter shook her head and said, "We can't count on Earth for help. I just finished decoding a message they sent to us by opening the gate for 1.3 seconds and sending a burst transmission."

Sam hesitated and Daniel looked at her with concern. "What is it Sam. What's happening on Earth?"

Colonel Carter replied, "Well," she paused and everyone could tell that she was just barely holding her emotions in check as she said, "Well we recently received a very short burst transmission from Earth. A large black ship entered the Solar System and has been destroying planets one at a time. So far it has taken out Pluto, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter."

All of the people from earth stared at Sam for a moment the very idea that a ship could be destroying their solar system one planet at a time was horrifying, add to that their situation with the Wraith hives and things seemed fully lost. The blond haired Colonel continued her report saying, "They are hoping that the Weapon at Antarctica will stop the ship, but they have also assembled a combined fleet using Earth ships, Tokra, Jaffa and Asgard."

The room filled with Silence for a good number of minutes before Daniel said, "Okay, so that takes Earth off the list of options for helping us. " He looked to Sheppard and said, "Time to start thinking of evacuation plans. You and your team, except Dr. McCay are responsible for helping to set up a secondary outpost."

Sheppard nodded and Daniel looked to Sam and Rodney saying, "I want you two and every scientist on the base thinking of ideas we can use to fight the Wraith. Anything at all, okay? Even if it means blowing up another sun."

Carter nodded and Daniel said, "Alright, then. I'll be looking through the databases and history here to see if there's anything at all that I might have missed."

He dismissed the group and set about looking through the Ancient database hoping that there might be something in there that would save them."

* * *

In the Deimos the crew were still waiting while their Asgard companions had long gone and the only companion ship they had left was the "Tria's Light."

A message came in and Neith called to her one of the other women on deck saying, "What is it ensign Pat'ri?"

The girl looked over to Neith and said, "It is an emergency message from the Jaffa leadership stating that the Tau'ri are in great danger from some planet destroying menace."

Neith considered the communication and said, "If we leave to help the Tau'ri we will be closing the connection between the Time Gate and the past meaning that the Tria will not be able to return."

Nesa, who was now an Ensign, was at one of the other stations and said, "We could transfer the device to the Tria's Light?"

Neith thought about it for a moment and said, "That is a good idea. We will carefully bring it to the Tria's Light and assist in the defense of Earth and then return."

Far away from the Deimos and between the orbit of Jupiter and Mars sat Wiseman in the ship possessed by Pharaoh 90. He spoke softly to his master saying, "The Time Gate was not on Pluto master I know. However if you can absorb all the power left over from the Silver Millenium we can find it I am sure."

The alien voice of Pharaoh 90 responded, "I require more sustenance. More….the planet called Earth will be after Mars and I will feed on its inhabitants slowly, much more slowly than those who served the Ori. I shall enjoy their pain and fear…."

* * *

Author's Notes: It's a short chapter, I know. I'm working on the next one and I felt the need to get off this because it was just not really feeling quite right. More Ranma and allies next time and some pretty big battle sequences. I'm already past the first few paragraphs, but that one may be pretty big so no idea when it will be updated here. Plus of course my other idea is screaming at me to write it down.

We'll see.

Q


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